The weekend after I returned from my first gay pride in San Francisco, Madonna performed Ray of Light at LIVE8 in London. – “Faster than the speeding light she’s flying Trying to remember where it all began She’s got herself a little piece of heaven Waiting for the time when the earth shall be as one.”
On March 5th, 2005, I left Florida. Aside from Roberto, my friend Joanna and her family, nothing was keeping me there. Roberto was an exceptional person to me and leaving Florida was a tough thing to do, but I had no choice. The job season was over for the year, and I still did not have a full-time job. I missed his friendship the moment I pulled out of his driveway. I left wishing I had known him longer than a month.
I returned to North Carolina and stayed with my family during March of 2005, and attended my aunt and uncle’s 50th wedding anniversary. I went with my brother, his wife and my sister. The four of us spent that day driving around the eastern part of North Carolina where my mother and father grew up. We visited aunts and uncles and cousins and talked about old times and our family history. It will be a day that I will always remember. It felt good to have a good relationship with my family again.
I spent the next week packing up my stuff and getting ready for my move back to Washington, DC. I had been away for five months. My trip home and my time in Florida had turned out to be this extended vacation that I so desperately needed. Even though I didn’t care for Florida, I did appreciate my time there. I came to understand that it was a time of rejuvenation. I never imagined that I would spend a winter in Southern Florida. I had always thought that only rich people could afford to do that sort of thing. I returned to Washington, DC on March 31st, 2005, where I spent the month of April filling in for an ex-coworker who went on a three-week vacation to New Zealand.
I stayed in DC for the entire month of April and thought about my next move. I thought about staying in DC. I thought about moving to Philadelphia. I even thought about moving to New York City, but then something else occurred to me. Perhaps I would do what I set out to do back in 1995. Maybe I would move to the Pacific Northwest. This time, instead of Seattle, I would give Portland, Oregon a try. I had heard good things about Portland but had never been there.
After consulting with Chuza, and a few of my colleagues at the Arlington Metaphysical Chapel, I gathered up my courage, loaded up my Blazer, and headed west. This time, instead of driving through the middle portion of the country, as I did in 1995, I took a more northern route. This drive would take me through places like The Badlands, Devil’s Tower, Yellowstone National Park, and The Grand Teton. I think my family was hoping that I would return to North Carolina, but without warning, I headed in a completely different direction. I didn’t return to North Carolina to say goodbye; I just hit the road. My trip across the country turned out to be a great awakening. The next few years would change me on many different levels.
I left Washington, DC on May 3, 2005. I couldn’t help but wonder what new adventures were in store for me. During my last day in DC, I visited the National Museum of the American Indian, where I purchased a handmade necklace and a CD of Native American music titled, “Sacred Spirit.” I decided that I would start out each day of my journey playing this new CD.
My three-week journey took me through West Virginia, Ohio, Indiana, Iowa, Nebraska, South Dakota, Wyoming, Idaho, and finally Oregon. There were many highlights of my journey across the country, but the things I remember most were seeing the Northern Lights in South Dakota, a very rare sighting of a mountain lion (not pictured) in Yellowstone National Park, and meeting a guy from Switzerland while camping at the Grand Tetons in Wyoming.
After my three-week trip across the country, I finally arrived in Portland. It was May 24, 2005. I didn’t know a soul. I didn’t have a job, I was a long way from my family, and I had just enough money saved to last me a month, or two.
Upon my arrival, I found a local newspaper, answered three “looking for roommate” ads, and by the end of that day moved into a room in the west hills of Portland. I spent the next month exploring downtown, searching for a job, meeting people, and working out at the gym. Initially, Portland had a perfect feel to it.
A month later, on June 24th, I flew to San Francisco to meet my sister, her husband, and their best friends. My sister and her husband were celebrating their 40th wedding anniversary in San Francisco and decided to fly me down for the weekend. It just happened to be Gay Pride that weekend, and for the first time in our lives, my sister and I attended a Gay Pride event together. It was only right that it would take place in San Francisco, the mother of all gay pride events. We had a great time and had a lot of laughs. My relationship with my sister had come a long way over the years.
On Monday, June 27, I flew back to Portland and decided that since I was now living in the Pacific Northwest, it was time to change my look completely. I shaved my head (my hair was thinning anyway) and grew facial hair for the first time in my life. And faster than a speeding light, I had begun yet another reincarnation.
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LIVE8 Performance
Verse:
Zephyr in the sky at night I wonder
Do my tears of mourning sink beneath the sun
She’s got herself a universe gone quickly
For the call of thunder threatens everyone
Chorus:
And I feel like I just got home
And I feel
And I feel like I just got home
And I feel
Faster than the speeding light she’s flying
Trying to remember where it all began
She’s got herself a little piece of heaven
Waiting for the time when earth shall be as one
(chorus)
Quicker than a ray of light
Quicker than a ray of light
Quicker than a ray of light
(verse)
And I feel
Quicker than a ray of light
Then gone for
Someone else shall be there
Through the endless years
She’s got herself a universe
She’s got herself a universe
She’s got herself a universe
And I feel
And I feel
And I feel like I just got home
And I feel
Quicker than a ray of light she’s flying
Quicker than a ray of light I’m flying
