Sweet Home Alabama

Day 1 - June 4th, 2007

After a long anticipated month and a half, I was on my way to a state I thought I’d never step foot in again. My first experience in Alabama was a brief one – just a drive through from Niceville, Fl to New Orleans – but, it was enough to let me know that I was uncomfortable standing on the grounds of the Confederate Flag capital. I could have sworn, then, that I would never be back. This was a few years ago.
Two months prior to this anticipated trip, I was doing a “superficial’ search through the pictures of MySpace. I couldn’t give an exact answer as to why, considering that I had recently ended a five year relationship and was not ready to start another one, as I had no intention of doing so. But, there was one picture that stood out to me, so I clicked on it, to view his profile.
His name was Nick, and in his stats, it said he lived in Alabama. I glanced at his page, and found what he had to say extremely interesting, which led me to read his blogs. His words were similar, in some ways, to mine, and there was a vague relativity that mirrored my situation – especially in the way I was feeling about myself at the time.
I felt compelled to contact him and tell him this. He responded to my message, which led to a MySpace conversation, back and forth, as we began to open up towards one another. A week of this, and we moved our conversations to the phone, and so we fast forward past the hours of endless conversations, the engagement, and finally, the booking of a flight that proceeded the longest days of my life as they led up to my trip to Alabama.

I woke up on Monday, June 4th, an hour earlier than I had set my alarm for. I had two different types of feelings going on about this trip – my excitement of finally getting to meet Nick, combined with my anxiety for my fear of flying.
At 10, my friend, Gary, picked me up and drove me from Palmdale all the way down to LAX. We arrived much earlier than expected, so we decided to eat lunch, in which he treated.
I got to the airport and checked in. When I got to the security checkpoint, I was informed that my lighter could not go on the plane with me. This set in a slight aggravation, but at the same time, I could not argue with the security measures. I really couldn’t be angry at anyone except for those terrorists that flew into the World Trade Center, making the whole flying experience more un-fun than it was before.
I made my way to the gate – something I always do before I start my shopping, so that I know exactly where it is, without having to run to it to board my plane.
Walking through the terminal, I walked past a smoking area. Ironic. I had to chuckle to myself, and thought, “Well, I guess I can have a cigarette before I get on the plane.” I stepped in the area and asked an old lady for a light. She handed me her cigarette. A few minutes later, someone asked me for a light, and I did the same. I did notice, though that some people were lighting their cigarettes with matches. I thought it strange that matches were okay on planes but lighters weren’t.
I finished my cigarette and had a half hour before my plane would board. In the time remaining, I did some shopping, in which I purchased gum, flavored water, and “The Nanny Diaries”. I felt I needed some reading material, so as not to be bored, and the selections, despite that fact that it was a mini-book store with hundreds of books, led me to a desperate attempt in picking out anything that sounded remotely interesting – even if the movie of the book was going to be released in a few weeks.
I made my way back to the gate, sat down, and popped in my Hydrocodone, in hopes that it would relax me during the dreaded take off. It didn’t.
On the plane, I sat next to an Asian lady, and her obnoxious two year old. Something about planes and children three and under – they’re always obnoxious. Thank God I had my walkman to drown out the high pitched screams this child was emitting when she didn’t get her way.
The In-flight movie was “Wild Hogs”. I started watching it for a bit before losing interest in the stupidity of the film, and focused on my book.
A few hours later, I landed in Houston at Bush airport. I tell you, these Texans really love their Bush folk – with a monument and all, dedicated to the dumbest family in all of America. I did notice, also, that people in Houston aren’t so friendly. I felt like I was in an atmosphere of attitude.
So, after running to the gate to catch my connecting flight, I noticed that they were boarding early, so I handed the lady my ticket, and she scanned it.
“Montgomery is not at this gate. This plane is going to Lexington”, she said, without offering any more information. I was unaware of any gate change, so I asked her where to go, and she pointed across the way.
I waited at the right gate and found out there was a delay due to the fact that they did not have a full crew for their EMBRAER – which basically meant that they were missing their one flight attendant. She showed up an hour later. Of course, no one could be mad at her, considering she was a last minute fill-in for the flight attendant who just never showed up. Still, I was getting more anxious the closer I was getting to Alabama – but I called Nick and told him my flight would be getting in late.
Once we were on the plane, we ended up stuck in the 8:00 taxi traffic, which put us as the 13th or 14th flight to head out. I was huffing and puffing in my seat, watching all the other planes taking off, aggravated that we were not priority. For a flight that was supposed to leave at 7:40, we did not get into the air until 8:30.
Due to the inconvenience of the whole situation, we were offered complimentary alcoholic beverages. Now, I’m not much of a drinker, but how could I possibly say no to free beer?
After the first sip, I realized that this could possibly affect the 1,000 mg of Hydrocodone in my system. By the third sip, I realized that I would be kissing my fiancé’ for the first time with beer breath. So, as soon as I was done with the beer, I popped in two pieces of my cinnamon Orbitz gum. When we finally landed, I threw those pieces away, and put a fresh piece in my mouth.
As soon as I got into the airport, I called Nick who was outside smoking a cigarette in the parking lot with his friend, Monica. I knew Monica would be there, as Nick had informed me of this the night before, considering he wasn’t sure whether or not his car would make the trip to Montgomery. I knew that this would bring a bit of awkwardness to the situation, but I didn’t care. I was finally getting to see my baby.

I walked through the airport with the phone glued to my ear, as I searched for the exit. When I started walking towards the automatic doors, I heard him say “I see you.” Dammit! My insecurities were hoping that I could see him first.
“Wait”, he said, “I think it's you.”
The sliding doors opened, and there he was, across the street, walking towards me.
I had thought out this whole greeting in my head for weeks. Do I kiss him? Get on my knees and give him the ring I had bought for him? Well, with his friend being there, like I mentioned before, there was a bit of awkwardness. Blend that in with my nervous shyness, and you get a whole discombobulation of “What the fuck do I do?”
But it all happened so quick. I didn’t really even get a good look at him before giving him a big hug. I think – or I believe – I kissed him on the cheek. God, talk about having that one moment to remember, and it gets all fucked up by the Hydrocodone, beer, nervousness, anticipation, and all else that was involved with my insides. I did get a good look at his face, though, after that hug, and saw that he looked just like, if not better, than his pictures. But, it was a quick glance, as I felt all shy – afraid that I may disappoint him.
Again, in my nervousness, I pulled a move that could go down in the ways of retardation – (seriously, I didn’t know where my brain was at.) I guess, since Monica was walking behind me, I had felt that my suitcase on wheels was in her way, so I picked it up and started carrying it.
“I’m sorry, baby”, said Nick, “I should be carrying it for you.”
“It’s okay”, I said – and wanted to continue with “I’m just a dumbass carrying a suitcase I could be dragging because it does have wheels.” But, instead, I said “Oh, I brought something for you.”
And – still walking – still carrying the suitcase – like a dork – a retarded dork, mind you – I unzipped my case and was searching for the Cloves I bought for Nick as he had requested. I couldn’t actually pull them out – I guess the walking was getting in the way of my multi-tasking hand, so I said I would just get it at the car – which was, literally three steps away. But I didn’t walk those three steps. I stopped right there, and pulled out the Cloves, handing them to Nick.
Finally, at the car, he leaned against it, grabbed me, and kissed me. It was a nice moment – our first kiss – only to be ruined by my consideration, not wanting to make Monica, his Christian friend, feel uncomfortable – and I pulled away – subtly, of course.
We got in the car, and Monica suggested that Nick get in the backseat with me. So he did.
As we drove out of the parking lot, Nick and I were holding each other. It was so nice to be in the arms of someone I had only spoken to on the phone.
“Oh, Happy Anniversary, baby”, I said to him, because, after all, this day was our 2 month anniversary. He returned the sentiment and kissed me.
Monica had to stop to pay the parking lot attendant, and I noticed that the lady was staring hard at us – and not just staring – she was scowling – as if she had never seen two homosexuals before. Again, I was in a place where the homosexual factor was not a popular one – but, I just loved that he was still holding me.
Monica was thirsty, so, after pulling out of the parking lot, we went to the nearest convenient store, where Monica was given money to go inside and get drinks. We stayed in the backseat.
“Well”, I said, “Let me take care of this now.”
I went into my pocket and pulled out the diamond engagement ring I was giving him to go along with the proposal I did a month and a half ago. (Had I known that we would be venturing to Wal-Mart later on, I would have done it there, instead of some random convenient store parking lot.) I don’t know – I had never been creative when it came to these kind of things, like those special engagements you see in movies that steal your heart (or even the Disney proposal my friend had done with his now wife.). With Nick, I just asked him – kind of out of the blue – kind of.

Here’s the story: Nick and I had been talking for a few weeks, but, in this short time, I realized – almost from the beginning – that he was “the one”. My friend, Kim, called me up on a Monday to tell me how excited she was about getting her Domestic Partnership papers in the mail.
“I’m jealous,” I told her.
“Don’t worry”, she said, “It will happen to you, too.”
When I repeated this story to Nick, he responded with “And it will.”
This clicked an impulse within me – yet, at the same time, I had been wanting to ask him.
“Marry me”, I blurted out.
Silence. Shit.
I heard a choke, or thought I did, in this brief pause.
“Are you serious?” he asked.
“Yes. I am serious.”
“Of course I’ll marry you.”
Thus, he became my fiancé’.
So, the informalities of proposing over the phone led to the informalities of presenting the diamond ring in a convenient store parking lot. I had no intention of doing it that way, but I guess my creativity could only go so far. What’s important, however, is that he loved the ring.
In the backseat of Monica’s car, with the wind blowing heavily (it was a convertible, as I have forgotten to mention.); my fingers were busy exploring and taking in the physical features of the voice that had been in my ear for the last two months. I was finally comfortable, as he felt so good.
We drove through the town of Greenville and decided to stop at the local Wal-Mart. We walked in, and walked around, getting a basket to put the large Gain detergent Monica was purchasing. Any chance I had, I would put my hands on Nick. At one point, I put my hand in his and asked if he minded.
“No”, he said, "but we need to watch out for people because of where we are.”
I understood, and even though I did not want to let go of his hand, I did. But, every now and then, I would rub my hand on his back. I, myself, never cared what people thought, as I found unfairness that straight couples could do this, and no one said a thing. This was the man I loved, so why shouldn’t I be able to touch him wherever and whenever I wanted? At the same time, I’ve always respected the other person, as I would hate to make them feel uncomfortable.

After leaving Greenville, we made our way over to Evergreen, where Monica lived.
Before going to her place, she gave me the twenty minute tour – and literally drove around the whole town, showing me the different neighborhoods.
We pulled up to her place, and stood outside talking for a bit. Monica was a sweet girl, and someone I would have loved to have spent more time with – but on a different occasion. At that moment, all I wanted to do was spend some alone time with Nick.
As we drove away, Nick informed me that we would be staying at a hotel.
“Am I gonna get to see where you live?” I asked.
“Of course”, he said, and went on to explain that he would be working a double shift the next day, and it would be more convenient if we stayed in Andalusia, as opposed to Red Level, where he lived, which was about 30 miles out of the way.
So, we went to the Days Inn and checked in, where we stayed the night and finally got the chance to be intimate – exactly on our two month anniversary.