My depression lasted through the Winter, 2001 and culminated in Mare telling me I should consider more drastic measures to get out of the funk. I made my first appointment to discuss medications that could help me level out my mood swings. I've since learned that it will probably be a life-long balancing act between "normalcy" and depression… just another gift of my life's experiences. The goal has become keeping the melancholy, moodiness and despair from paralyzing me.

A lot of good things have happened to me since that Winter. I dated a few people with no serious relationships, including a period of time that Bosco and I continued to get together a few times a year at certain events (Southern Decadence, IML, etc.) I started to focus on other things - travel, home ownership again,etc.

I bought a townhouse in Fitchburg near the cool apartment I rented overlooking the Fish Hatchery (and the largest Copps Grocery Store in Wisconsin). The townhouse was a fun experience that I accomplished mostly on my own. Bart helped me pick out some of the fixtures (lighting, etc.) but for the most part my taste was evident in this place like no other place I've lived. I lived there alone for most of a year after having lived in the apartment alone for a year. These were good times for me to be alone - at least for the sake of those who might have been around me.

Thanksgiving, 2003, I met David. The weekend before Thanksgiving, I was working the coat check at Club 5. AIDS Network was allowed to run the coatcheck for whatever money it brought in for the organization and I needed to be doing something that wasn't all about "me." At any rate, it was always interesting to be there overlooking the bar and its drunken inhabitants when I was stone cold sober (mostly.) On that particular night I noticed this guy that I hadn't seen before in a nicely tight-fitting white t-shirt. He seemed to notice me too, but wouldn't come close enough for me to make small talk.

The following weekend, Thanksgiving, I was not working coat check. After having my first Jack & Diet I noticed the guy from the previous weekend... the Jack & Diet is important to this story because that's the only way I would have had the nerve to approach him. Approach I did. Turns out that a "friend" of mine had claimed that I was "off limits" for David... luckily I was given the opportunity to point out the innacuracy of that.

In editing this page in December of 2008, I had to remove some comments. David and I have been together since that Thanksgiving. We've been through a lot. We built a house while we tried to sell my townhouse. The townhouse sold in time to get us into the house without two mortgages.

We lived in a house that we built after having been together a little over a year. We stayed in that house for a little over 3 years, with it being on the market for the final 13 months. We abandoned plans to build a new house and opted instead to buy an older ranch house in Middleton. The acquisition of two German Shepherds was the impetus for the housing change. As it turns out, neither dog is really show quality, though our co-owner of the female is still interested in getting a second litter out of her, so we're on target for that to happen Spring, 2009.

So, that's where we are at the moment. I'll try to keep the HOME page updated as the house project evolves. If you've found anything interesting here and would like to share your similar experiences, I'd love to hear from you.