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| Mike and Bob, new friends |
Regular readers of this blog will know that I have often mentioned my disappointment in making friends in the large gay community here in Rehoboth Beach area of southern Delaware.
One of the reasons I moved to Delaware for my retirement in addition to escaping the high taxes of my former home state of Pennsylvania was the large gay community. When Bill and I lived in Pennsylvania, we were often ostracized by some neighbors just because we were gay. I have blogged about those experiences in previous postings and won't rehash those terrible times where we were discriminated against just because we were two gay men living together in a suburban home some thought belonged only to straight couples. That was a sad and depressing time of our lives which I do not wish to revisit.
Bill and I have been living here since 2006. In that time we have made five (Wayne, Bob, David, Ted and gay friends, one of which has already died. Ironically, our best friends are out neighbors Bob and Barb, who are straight and conservative Republicans. We have also made other straight friends. We didn't seek them, it just turned out that way.
For a few years I used to attend a weekly dine out with fifteen to twenty gay members of the local community. I gave up on that social function several years ago.
I even joined the local organization (Camp Rehoboth) thinking I would make gay friends. Didn't happen. That organization's focus is on raising money and not welcoming other gays to their community unless they're in their clique (mostly Washington D.C. gays). That's another whole story that I'm not going into at this time other to say that I have made several good faith efforts to be a nice guy and offer my friendship only to be rebuffed and ignored. Hey, I don't beg for friendships. The only interaction I had with them was when that came to be to give them money for their organization. If that's the only time they feel fit to talk to me, then I don't need them. I left.
Then this weekend I had a pleasant surprise . I placed a request in our local NextDoor app for someone to help a '76 year old man who has average knowledge of Apple computers and who makes house call is patient.' I've engaged with computer guys before but the ones I have dealt with are smart asses, charge a lot and don't tell me anything lest I learn something and don't need them in the future.
I had several responses to my request. The first gentleman I talked to sounded pleasant. Because he sounded young I was suspicious he was one of those wise guys I dealt with before. I asked him how old he was. He said he was 67 years old. Good sign. Maybe he wouldn't take advantage of my ignorance of computers and actually help me, which I am willing to pay for, and also at the same time help me learn. Coincidentally while he was talking to my two airport utility backup towers. They were flashing amber and I didn't know why. He told me bring up utilities on my computer where I saw updates. He advised me that the blinking amber lights was only an update which I did. The blinking amber lights went off. Wow! Someone helped me and didn't take advantage of me. I offered to pay him but he refused. Wow! What a pleasant surprise, someone who isn't taking advantage of my ignorance of computers and being nice to me.
Well, this blog is going on long so let me wrap this up. The next day this gentleman came over. His name is Mike. He and his partner have been together forty-one years. I visited Mike and his partner the next day. I visited Mike and his spouse Bob the next day. They live nearby. I found them to be a very pleasant couple. I have new friends.
You will hear more about them in future posts.
