My GLBT family: How did you meet your significant other?

[Behind the Aegis]

39. Not a fairy tale for sure.

Mr. BtA and I met 10 years ago (just had our anniversary in February) at a bar in Oklahoma City. I had just started going back out to the clubs. Prior to that, I had only been out on New Year's, see, what happened was in December of 2001, I basically had a nervous breakdown, for lack of a better term. I completely withdrew from everyone. So, when he approached me, I wasn't really interested. I thought he was cute, and very nice. He kept calling and PM'img me. I finally explained everything that had happened, it was a hot mess worthy of several story lines on any soap opera. I told him I was probably not a very good person to be around and he would be better off with someone else. He basically said, "one way or another, we are going to be together. If you need time, you got it. I'll be here. You obviously don't see in yourself what I see in you." What makes this even more special is he is a very technically-oriented person, not big on feelings, psychology, and the like. I on the other had was actually a counselor! LOL!

He waited. He called; we talked all the time. Then, came my birthday (May 17th), basically three months after we started dating. He secretly called my mother and offered to fly her out to Oklahoma to see me. We hadn't seen each other in two years, but we are very close and it was one of the reasons I was so depressed. That sealed the deal. He tried to get me the one thing I wanted most that year for my birthday without my ever saying that was what I wanted.

We are opposites in many ways. He is quiet and reserved. I am loud and in-your-face, though I can be unnoticeable, should I so desire. He is stoic. I wear my heart on my sleeve. He is "straight-like", and I am so gay, there are dead people haunting my parent's saying "really? you had no clue?!" He is an only child, I am one of four. His parents are much older, mine are 18 years older than me, and 12 years older than him. I am very close to my mother. His family love each other, but not what one would call close. I am out to my family; he isn't. He is long to anger, I get pissed if the mail is late. He rarely cries. I cry if the mail is late (OK, that is joke.."Golden Girls" anyone? Very obscure reference. If you get it, you are very, very homosexual!!), but I do cry easily. He is short on words. I can talk 'til i lose my voice, then keep talking because I know sign language! Basically, we are the literal Yin and Yang, mainly of one way, with a dot of the other inside us. We balance each other quite well. Of course, it didn't hurt he has a thing for Jewish boys.

I will say this...we are not each other's normal "types." If you looked at people we dated in the past, there isn't much in common. So, we were both looking for love in all the wrong places. Also, those who haven't met their special someone, it is sooooo cliche, but...when you least expect it, when you aren't looking, that little cherub, Cupid, is gonna getcha! Until then...git yo freak on!!