My friend Marshall turned 40 today. I met Marshall I think in 1998. I can’t remember actually. We get together a few times a year for dinner, etc. I last saw him on New Years Eve when he came over for dinner. My friend David came over too. We had a nice time. Marshall’s partner Jim decided to have a party for Marshall’s 40th birthday. So I went to their house today for the cookout. There were about 25 people there. I didn’t think there’d be that many. It was nice to meet some new people. I had actually met some of them before at Marshall’s other parties. One guy there, Sam, I met before I knew Marshall. Then found out that he was friends with Marshall and his partner Jim. Anyway, I haven’t seen Sam in a long time. He’s looking pretty good. We had some nice conversation catching up on what we’ve been up to lately. It was good seeing him again.
When I’m at parties, I tend to be pretty quiet and don’t start conversations with people. I usually let them ask me something. I’m pretty shy that way. While at Marshall’s party, I was the same way. I did a lot more listening then talking. Seems like a lot of gay men are really into travel. Most of the guys I was standing around with were talking about all their world travels. They’d ask me if I’ve been here or there and I’d say no, I’m not a big traveller. The conversation moves on to jobs, where we live, etc. We did have some good discussions about the Virginia General Assembly and how Warner is being a wimp and not using his veto power.
Jim and Marshall have been together for going on 14 years I think. This year for Marshall’s birthday Jim is taking him on a cruise to Alaska. While there, they will get to climb on a glacier and go on a dog sled run. It sounds like it’ll be a great trip. Jim was thinking of a cool way to surprise Marshall with his gift so he put big chunks of ice on a tray and a map of Alaska under the ice with the water part showing. Then he put a little toy ship on the “water”. He covered it with a bowl and revealed it after Marshall blew out his candles. I thought it was very creative and a great way to surprise Marshall. It’s so sweet to see a happy gay couple who have been together for so many years.