July 2007

A Bostonian Comes to Bellingham

Hi Poppets! My name is Bridget and somehow or other, I managed to luck into being your newest columnist for The Betty Pages! So who am I and why the hell are you reading my words? It all happened when I fell in love at Rumors Cabaret…

I admit it; I am not what you might call mainstream. My hair is streaked, my tatts often show and my fashion style is completely my own. But more than how I look, it’s how I think that makes me other than mainstream. If you are reading The Betty Pages, you understand exactly what I mean.

I am also from Boston, which makes being other than mainstream a little interesting. See, Boston is a very mainstream city. Don’t get me wrong. I adore Boston. Great town, great people, great coffee shops. The underground/alternative communities are small but thriving. And it is an amazingly accepting place for a city so mainstream. But for all its accepting nature, it is mainstream. No one in Boston quite understands me. I don’t quite fit – even with the alternative communities there. Instead, people smile, shake their heads saying “there goes Bridget, doing her thing” and accept me for who I am, even though they don’t understand me.

One of the many things people don’t understand about me is my relationship with my partner, David. David is not straight. Until he met me, he identified as gay. Personally, I think he is and I’m the exception. He’s a little more confused now and is wondering if he is perhaps bi. David, bless him, likes things to be very neat and organized and I have made his world delightfully messy and disorganized. But I’m digressing. I do that…. Anyway, since it’s not my place to self-identify someone else, we’ll just say he’s not straight because the point is we are far from your average male-female relationship, whatever labels you put on us. Add this fabulous twist to me and there aren’t many places we can go without raising an eyebrow or two.

So imagine my surprise one Wednesday night in June when I walked into Rumors. I was in Washington, visiting David and the conversation went something like this:

Me: Take me somewhere interesting.

Him: I live in Sedro-Woolley.

Me: There must be somewhere.

Him: I’ll take you to Bellingham.

And the strangest thing happened. We were understood. Sure, we were accepted but I’m used to that. There at Rumors, though, no one raised an eyebrow or asked a single question as we were simply who we are. No one knew us well enough to accept us because it was Bridget and she’s crazy like that. It was simple understanding. I got to be as not mainstream as I am without once feeling like a sideshow. David got to be as free in public as he gets to be in private when it’s just us. And when we both kissed the same beautiful man goodnight, no one even noticed (well, I hope he did but I’m digressing again.)

I’m in love with Boston. It’s my home and I carry it with me in my heart wherever I go. That night, I fell in love with Bellingham, too. Luckily for me, my heart is big enough to carry Bellingham with me as well. Wherever I go.

So that’s why I am now writing for The Betty Pages. Hopefully, you and I will get to know each other better and discover we like each other. I think we’ve already got the understanding part down.

Until next month, Poppets, take care of you.