I met Thomas through unusual circumstances. My former pastor and his wife invited me over to dinner to meet "another bachelor." I thought George knew I was gay as I had dropped a few hints in church, but I figured that this would be just a nice social event as I enjoyed the Peelen's company and figured the man would be interesting if nothing else.
Have you ever met someone and been attracted to him right away? That was the way it was with Thomas. He was taller than me with the same solid build, in his mid-50s. He had male-pattern baldness and the clearest blue eyes I have even looked into. They drew me in immediately -- I couldn't take my eyes off of them. He was charming, friendly and I think we both knew something special was happening immediately.
Let me give you a bit of my background. I'm 58 and my first gay experience was with a much older man at summer camp when I was very young. Before you judge us, let me be clear that I had a terrible crush on him from the moment we met and I had been attracted to men for some time. I knew perfectly well what was happening and I wanted it to happen.
I had experiences with men and women, was married to a man in grad school and a woman later. I knew by my 40's that I was completely gay and I enjoyed several gay encounters in the ensuing years. While part of me enjoyed my single life another part wanted someone to make my life complete.
Thomas and I hit it off right away. He is in banking and we had a great conversation about that subject and our mutual interests in music and movies. It was a wonderful evening.
I was quite attracted to him and I could tell he liked me as well. He was divorced and I later found out that he had hidden his gay desires for years before finally coming out to his family and beginning his gay life several years before. By the end of the night we realized that we were both gay men.