First Email to Howie

22 Nov 2002 23:53:01 EST Subject: Thank you for a wonderful evening To: [email protected]

 

Dear Howie (is that how you call yourself?)

 

Thank you for a wonderful evening.  After you arranged the private, candle lit dinner in the Florida Aquarium, I did not think it possible that you could improve on such a gesture.  I was wrong.   Tonight exceeded the backdrop of the rare tropical fish.  The setting, the food and especially the company were incomparable.  Chez Baskin's is the finest in elegance and ambiance the city has to offer.  There is nothing more calming than the water.

 

I feel like I bolted out of your home and wanted you to know that I just don't know anything about dating.  I've been married since I was 17 and this is the first time in my life that I have been going out with men socially.  My mother was even musing over it this morning and saying that she had never experienced me having fun and couldn't believe how old I was before getting around to it.  She

also persuaded me not to take tonight seriously, because I had described you as being good looking, funny, single, a cat owner and that you were cooking a meal tonight.  She said if I walked in and saw that your home was clean and well decorated then I could be sure that you were gay and that I was just there to convince your friends that you were not.  All evening, I had a wonderful time, even based upon the supposition that she must be right because your home was impeccably furnished and spotlessly clean.  I didn't want to make you uncomfortable with wondering how on earth you were going to get this woman out of your house, so I bolted.

 

Three things I noticed in your conversation that really impressed me and when your eulogy is being written, I want to be sure they are added to the Mary-and-her-cat-in-the-middle-of-the-night story.  The first was that even after you had invested so much of your time and energy into renaming the street, that you chose not to take advantage of the majority being in your favour, so as to not upset the few who opposed.  Most people could have reasoned that away any number of ways, but you put others ahead of your own desires.   

 

The second was that you sold your home to satisfy a debt after an investment didn't pan out.  In my business and in the work I do for WOES I see so much irresponsibility and it is encouraged by society rather than exposed for the self centeredness it represents.  You had lots of options at your command that required no sacrifice on your part, and yet, you chose to do the right thing.  

 

The third was the kindness that you show to your elderly neighbors, from listening to them to escorting them.  I could tell from all the details that you shared with us tonight that you had really listened to these people and had given them a part of you that I am sure they hold very dear.  There were many other nuances such as the way you described the horse's hesitation or the cat's aversion to fur in the water, that tell me you are very observant of the world around you and that you are moving with it in a manner that causes no harm and brings much joy.

 

You truly are a special person and I am glad to have met you. - Carole

 

I've been writing my story since I was able to write, but when the media goes to share it, they only choose the parts that fit their idea of what will generate views.  If I'm going to share my story, it should be the whole story.  The titles are the dates things happened. If you have any interest in who I really am please start at the beginning of this playlist: http://savethecats.org/

 

I know there will be people who take things out of context and try to use them to validate their own misconception, but you have access to the whole story.  My hope is that others will recognize themselves in my words and have the strength to do what is right for themselves and our shared planet.  

 

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