Todd was watching in the wings, puffing on his cigarette, smiling at my fortitude. “I was a stripper – twenty years ago!” Still trying too hard, but won their amusement. “Hi, you work here?” My voice attempted hip, but came out old-lady-desperate. Todd leaned up against a street sign and lit up. We arrived just outside the club, where there were two twenty-something’s wearing black Spandex mini dresses, perched under the sign, smoking, chatting it up with a couple of dudes on the sidewalk. “Um, uh-uh, honey…” His feet said maybe, but his words said no. “I told you!” (I didn’t.) Pointing to the fabulous sign across the street, I held Todd’s hand and encouraged his direction when the light turned green. Our common denominator is Love, which really, isn’t that what’s it’s all about? It bears no weight saying Todd is gay, other than – for the purpose of this story – it just makes for a better story.Ī couple toasts, flirty gazes around the room and a fun game of “is he, or isn’t he?” – and Todd and I were off to our next adventure. We are a diverse bunch, from different backgrounds, ages, ethnicities and sexual orientations. Three of us – Tattoo is a symbol for “Friendship” It’s our wedding rings to one another, a permanent symbol showing undying, and unconditional love. We all share the same tattoo – on different patches of skin, applied at different times in our lives. Todd is one of my people of a small crew of family, where time spent with each other is too few and far between. It’s always a hoot to catch up with old friends – and when they’re like family – even better. Putting my plan of action to kidnap Todd after dinner, taking him to see female strippers aside, we enjoyed a long-overdue date.
“1000s of Beautiful Girls & 3 Ugly Ones.” He was too busy paying attention to any open pockets of asphalt, to understand my laughing out loud moment after reading the words: As we circled the block in search of parking close to the restaurant, my eyes honed in on it – a fabulous sign that would dictate the course of our evening, unbeknownst to Todd.