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This time I didn't leave behind a virgin bride! (Grin).
visit to Disney World
we each became part of the other's family.
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| THE WONDERFUL '80s | |
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| F L O R I D A H O N E Y M O O N |
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| By the end of 1979, Penny, my daughter, had moved in with me. To have a bit more room and privacy, I rented a small three bedroom house in the suburbs to Toronto. It had a good size Rec Room in the basement, so I decided to throw a fairly large New Years Eve bash for as many Gay friends as I knew. About 75 men turned up so it was a roaring success. One of the couples who came had asked if they could bring this 'Ron' who worked with them at a large dept store in Toronto. I liked him from the start, however I had a sailor from the Toronto docks as my date, plus I was busy with the party so I didn't get to talk to Ron very much that night. However we did get to meet a couple of nights later at a bar and that night we fell head over heels in love. Ron was eight years younger than myself. He had just broken off from an abusive 20 year relationship with his ex lover and wasn't ready to get involved again. However, love prevailed, and in April 1980, he moved in with me (and Penny) It was now time to be tested for HIV and, thank God, we both tested negative. Then the two of us flew down to Fort Lauderdale, Florida for a one week honeymoon. This time I didn't leave behind a virgin bride! (Grin). |
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| RON | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| It was a trip to remember and was the start of 30years of many trips and vacations together. We never once went on seperate vacations and never had a bad trip. Details of some of our trips can be found in a seperate section of this site. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| MYSELF | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| In a small Cessna plane we hired to fly us for a one day visit to Disney World |
Toasting each other during lunch on a tour of The Everglades | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| By the time I met Ron. I was in my third year in a really good job. The only problem was that the President of the company was a high priest in the Morman Church and was extremely homophobic. As controller for the company, I reported directly to him and quite often had to go on lunches with him and clients etc. and listen while he made obnoxious anti-gay comments about our waiter or anyone else he thought was gay. I was determined not to lose this job, so I remained as closeted as I could and still breath. I ended up staying there until my retirement in 1995. The bigot mellowed somewhat over the years, as obviously they started to suspect as stories went around. At one time, in 1988, an unhappy ex- employee who I had fired, typed letters to each of the executive and management staff as well as some key customers, that the company had a homosexual controller and that he had full blown AIDS.. The President, VP and Owner of the company called me in and showed me the letter. Once I convinced them that I was HIV negative, the subject was never brought up again. However, I am sure the episode eliminated my chance of ever becoming promoted to VP Finance. They gave me a great retirement party however, with about 120 staff and clients attending including my three kids and their spouses. They still didn't know about Ron, even though we had been living together for 15 years by then. Ron, on the other hand, worked as a set designer at The Bay so most of the guys he worked with were gay. I never stopped telling him how lucky he was. I was invited to his retirement party and was asked to speak. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Yours truly working so seriously at the office. I guess I forgot to mention, that I became a blonde while on my honeymoon. Do you think that might have given them a hint??? | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| 1984, Ron, Penny and myself at the restaurant at the top of the CN Tower in Toronto. Penny had take us out for dinner for our birthdays. It was just five months before she died. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| One other important trip taken in Sept 1980, was to British Columbia to visit my Mom and Dad and sister June {who all lived in Victoria by this time} as well as Ron's sister Heather and her family who lived in Vancouver. We were both very nervous about meeting our 'in-laws', but everything went wonderful, and from that day on, we each became part of the other's family. |
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| More 80s | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| HOME | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| With Ron's Neice | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| June, Ron & Mom - 1980 | Myself, Heather & Ron - 1980 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||