Boston | 18
“We are the Muses—Goddesses of the Arts”
That family friend, who gave me a tour of Boston during my first week. He was gay. He took my sister to junior prom, and she was the first person he came out to. Whenever I was asked which brother I knew, and I told them, their response was always,
“The gay one,” I’m sure they knew he was brilliant and kind and handsome, but—kind of a weighted answer. Perhaps they were learning names, too. There were many of them! He was a family friend before I knew, and he was a family friend after I knew. Didn’t change how I viewed him. Most of my school was gay, experimenting, or discovering how they identified! All humans.
Yes, I kissed a few girls. When you’re young and at a liberal arts school where most of the student population is somewhere in between, you’ll receive a few kisses. I guess I just thought,
“Sure, is there that big of a difference?”
With kissing, not really.
I once took a class about love and eroticism, which explored the concepts in ancient philosophies and literature. That, combined with a psychology class on marriages, families, and intimate relationships, certainly taught me that it’s all a scale, and we all sit somewhere on it.
There’s a Greek legend from ancient times of beings made with two sets of arms, legs, and two heads. Some had two sets of male parts, some had two sets of female parts, and some had a combination of the two. It is said they were split in half as the Gods and were sent to spend their lifetimes searching for their other half. I was always sure of the half I was looking for; I just wasn’t sure who until I was held in warm arms where the windows faced True North.
