I was born in Yale New Haven Hospital in Connecticut at around 2 am. I have one sister who is 4 years older. I tend to have a terrific long term memory although my short term memory is shit. My childhood was happy, unfortunately happy childhood's do not make for interesting blog posts so I'll give you the general highlights. I grew up in the East Mountain section of Waterbury Connecticut. We moved once when I was about 6 however our new house was/is walking distance down the road from the old house. I remember once of the neighbors had a Scottish Terrier named Scottie (not the most original name on earth) who would trot up and down the street so all the kids could pet him. The summer after 1st grade we went to Disney World on vacation and I got to meet my favorite movie princess Cinderella. The highlight of my summer came when she kissed me on the cheek.
As I said, we moved (See blog post 'Sweet Home Waterbury') down the road to a brand new house. My mother even let me pick out the carpet in my new room. I chose a nice navy blue color. If you can believe it, my childhood bedroom was decorated in a baseball theme complete with a wallpaper boarder circling the room with various players in various poses. Once school started I followed my sister to St. Mary School. My parents believe in God and go to church but I would consider them (or our family) as being a very religious. My enrollment in Catholic schools had more to do with a lack of quality public education then a deep religious belief. I remember walking up the two neighborhood hills to the bus stop. Often of the way to the bus I would practice my runway walk. (Yes I'm serious)
My early school years were pleasant and uneventful. All of my friend tended to be girls because I never had anything in common with the boys. As I got older and went through puberty I quickly realized I liked boys instead of girls and later came out to my parents in 7th grade. Like most swishy little gay kids I was picked on. I had been picked on to some extent my whole life. In kindergarten I got called a girl because it was before we knew the word gay. In 7th and 8th grade the popular guys would try to hit on me as a joke hoping I would fall for the prank and admit I liked them. I remember sitting in front of Al in 8th grade Spanish as he rubbed my ass with his feet on the back of my chair to the laughter of his friends. I was lucky enough that even at the age of 13 I was able to recognize the odd homo-erotic subtext of it all. But you have to remember, it was a Catholic school after all. These same boys also ridiculed anyone who wore corduroy pants because they honestly believed rubbing thighs would start a fire. I rolled my eyes a lot, even then. At this point I should make one thing clear. Yes I was picked on a child but I don't think I was singled out any more then the other kids. Children are cunts and everyone gets a shot at one point or another. I sympathize with kids today in the age of the internet because they have it a lot tougher then I did. It does get better.In 8th grade I had to choose which high school to attend. Holy Cross or Sacred Heart. My sister had chosen Holy Cross although 85% of my classmates were headed to Sacred Heart. After nine years with this bunch I was ready for a change so I became a Holy Cross Crusader. I loved high school because it was easy. By then most of the name calling and bullying tapered off. Many of my classmates really didn't give a shit either way so I was able to fly under the radar. They were more concerned with getting drunk on the weekend. I wasn't out in school but I never pretended to be straight either. I knew if I pretended to like girls the general consensus would be "Really dude, you've got to be kidding?" So I stuck to being neutral while wearing metallic blue Doc Martens and participating as little as possible in gym class. Still to this day I barely understand the rules of football. Once during my sophomore year I tried growing long hair. Once it reached ear length I accepted how truly heinous it looked.
Stay tuned for Part 2 which continues High school into college :-)
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