Resolutions - Part 6 - June
Here's part 6 of 'Resolutions'
Resolutions (Part 6)
June: Pride and Joy
By Al Song
June 28th, 2015
Before my mom left for Manhattan I spent the past month taking the bus to visit her in Kenville each weekend. Sometimes Nathan would tag along with us so I could spend time with the two of them. My mom found him to be sweet and I was glad that they got along so well. I guess I shouldn't have been surprised since the wolf could be so charismatic and charming, yet he was also so genuine. They talked about some TV show for teens from when I was little and the conversation went over my head. One weekend we spent the day baking while quizzing each other in French vocabulary. We even taught my mom a couple words. It was nice to be able to spend time with my mom and my best friend. It's great that Nathan got along with so many people. He was still helping me get near his level of sociability.
I drove my mom to the airport and we had a slightly tearful goodbye. I was glad that I spent time with her before she had to leave but I also felt like I should have been spending time with her more often.
It was a bittersweet and hectic time for me since I had finals and my mom was leaving but my friends and I made it through finals week and summer vacation had started for us.
Another amazing thing happened on June 26th since the Supreme Court had legalized same-sex marriage throughout the US. Arvin, Geo, Nathan, and I celebrated together along with a few other friends. Arvin and Geo took a plane to San Francisco for the weekend to celebrate Pride there and to meet up with some old friends of theirs.
Nathan and I hopped on a bus and scanned our student cards on the card-reader. There were other people on the bus giddily talking to each other wearing tons of rainbow patterns and pink on their clothing along with some who dyed their fur in numerous colors for the occasion. I was just wearing jeans, a pink t-shirt with a lime green hoodie and the trucker hat that my mom gave me. Nathan was wearing a pink golf shirt with a pair of khakis. I sent a selfie of us to Arvin and Geo and the deer said that looked like a slice of watermelon sans the seeds. I just wished them a happy pride parade and put my phone away.
"Are you excited?" Nathan asked.
"Yeah, to be honest this is my first parade."
"Really?"
"Yeah, before the thought of crowds and loud noise seemed unpleasant but this year it's historic and you've helped me with social situations and you've gone to events with me so I don't feel like I'm the only one there. Thanks for all that."
"Hey, it's no problem. That's what friends are for and I want to help you with your resolution."
"It's almost been half a year and I'm keeping up with this. It feels pretty good. And thanks to all the walking that we've been doing I can walk up a couple flights of stairs without being too winded. So that's also kind of a victory."
"That's really good. I'm glad that I'm helping you with your mental health and your physical health."
We looked at the slightly shimmering water of Lake Washington since the clouds had accumulated.
"Hopefully it doesn't rain on our parade," I said looking up.
"Well, even if it does it'll still be a fun time," Nathan replied.
"Your optimism always makes me feel better."
Soon the bus entered downtown and skyscrapers surrounded us and there were so many more people wearing colorful and politically charged clothes that stated support and hope for the future. We got off the bus a stop later and heard an announcer from the Westpond Shopping Center making jokes and there a large mass of people waiting for the parade to start. There were many people already waiting in the frontlines of the parade and it was hard for a shorter guy like me to see.
Nathan walked a few blocks to a building with an iron gate. He leapt up the bricks and helped me up so we could stand on the ledge of the building's garden. I could then see above the crowds and towards the actual blacktop of the street.
After a while the parade started and there were many intricate floats but it seemed to consist mostly of sponsors from general companies rather than resource centers for LGBTQ people or companies that were owned by them. It was nice to see the support from the allies at least. Hopefully it wasn't just a ploy for them to get another space for them to advertise what they were trying to sell.
Many of the marchers threw promotional products to the front rows of the crowds but we caught a few pieces of candy. There were a lot of mainstream pop songs playing from various floats too. They were fun songs but they weren't what I usually listened to.
"You having fun?" Nathan asked me.
"Yeah, this is fun, but it's kind of loud."
"You want to leave?"
"No, I am enjoying myself here."
I also saw a lot of scantily dressed men in the parade which also made things even better. I was honestly having fun and it was nice to see that we were being represented and celebrated, and I was glad that I had Nathan there with me. At one point the black wolf bought two rainbow scarves and he put one around my neck and one around his own. It was a joyful event and it passed in a few hours, which felt almost like nothing.
The rest of the celebration was taking place at the Seattle Center, so we walked down the length of the parade towards the Space Needle and the sun was breaking through the clouds.
My feet were getting a little tired but I powered through and I held onto the end of Nathan's tennis shirt as we navigated through the crush of rainbows.
At Seattle Center we watched a few bands performing and Nathan took pictures of me with some handsome guys with their shirts off. One of the guys was a tall grey wolf with some nice muscles and a kind smile and he definitely melted my heart. There was also a lion with large biceps and pecs who was also doing juggling tricks.
I bought a t-shirt from a vendor that said "History made on 6-26-2015" and I was going to buy a shirt that said "Proud ally!" for Nathan but he said that he'd rather have the same one as me.
After a while we go hungry and headed for the Center Home, which was a building that had a performing arts center but it was also a museum and a food court with many places to eat inside of it. We shared a cheese and mushroom pizza together and chatted.
"It's good to sit down again," I said as I took a bite of the pizza and a sip of the root beer.
"Sorry about that. We could have sat down when we first got here," Nathan said.
"It's okay I'm doing fine," I said with a smile. "It was a really fun day."
"I thought so too. There were a lot more people here this year."
"Yeah, it's pretty crowded but I really enjoyed being here," I said after another sip of root beer. "I've only seen pictures of the parades but it's a different feeling when you're actually participating. It was also great seeing a lot of hot guys around me."
"I'm glad."
"I'm sorry you got hit on so many times," I said.
"Hey, I don't mind," he said grinning. "It's a compliment."
"Well if anyone says anything that makes you uncomfortable I can tell them to stop."
"No worries. I can do that myself."
"Okay, I'm here for you too if you need stuff. It seems like you're doing a lot more for me than I ever do for you," I said and looked down at the table.
"No, that's not true," he said and put down his pizza and wiped his muzzle. "You're an amazing friend. You're my best friend. You've done a lot for me. You're there for me when I need to talk and you're a really good listener too. I know a lot of people but I'm closer to you than my roommate and I've lived with him longer than when I started hanging out with you. I feel like I can talk to you about so many things that it would feel weird opening up to other people about. So, I don't want you to think that this friendship is a one way street."
After he said that I felt something being lifted from my shoulders and I felt a calmness wash over me. I felt an overwhelming desire to hug him.
When we finished our pizza we went back out and watch a couple more performances and some hot guys. We also made a toast to our friendship in the crowds with cold mango lemonade.
(To be continued...)