RELATIONSHIPS | LGBTQ+
The Date That Changed Everything
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It’s been about fifteen years, but I still remember the giddy feelings that bubbled up when I met Liz, the woman who would eventually become my wife. Believe it or not, it was the first time I’d felt this electric.
Waiting until I was almost 50 to admit that I was gay changed my life, as you can imagine. I’d seriously dated several men throughout my life and had been in a straight marriage for twenty-five years, but I’d never felt head over heels in love.
I didn’t allow myself to hope that I’d someday get to experience true love. I chose to hide my same-sex attraction and worked hard to have a successful marriage until one day, I nearly took my own life.
Curled up in a fetal position on the floor of my walk-in closet, holding a prescription bottle of Ambien sleeping pills, I couldn’t see a way forward. The misery and pain of hiding who I was had become too much.
The realization that the finality of suicide wasn’t my only option broke through the darkness like a halogen spotlight. When I physically left my closet that day, I was determined to break free from my emotional prison.
