30,000 Feet and on to Dallas

Thursday, September 7, 2006, 11:35 am EST

I just woke up from a great nap. Strangely, both flights this morning were nearly empty so I was able to stretch out and sleep. Which is a good thing because I was up at 1:00 packing for this trip to Dallas, and the lovely alarm went off at 4:30 so I could get my ass to Logan. So I’ve slept most of the morning and am now feeling a bit refreshed.

I’m off to visit Keith Birtwell (see pic) who has lived in Dallas for 6 years working in Radio, but who is about to sell his home and uproot his life and change careers into TV. We met 3-4 years ago online for the purpose of sharing a room at the Florida Round-up (12-step conference for gay men and women held each year in Miami).


Keith and I hit it off right away, but our friendship seriously took hold this Summer after he came to visit me in Ptown for Bear Week. We bonded around breakups (we both had been with our partners for the last few years) as now being single girls (with bruised hearts) in Ptown we provided the appropriate mix of support and kick-in-the-ass-back-to-reality that one needs when your overcoming a lost love.

But Bear Week in Ptown was just the beginning – Keith came back for Carnival, made possible by the fact that he’s been laid off from his Radio job -- and similarly my spending 6 weeks (from Bear week to Labor Day) on the cape this summer (the first time I've ever been able to spend that kind of time out of the office and working remotely part-time).

So Keith and I officially crossed the line into ‘Best Friend’ status, and so I’m on a plane to Dallas using FF miles for the first time in my life to go see his life there before he moves to NY, Chicago, or my favorite, Boston. He’s an amazing, energetic, sometimes forgetful, caring, one-of-a-kind guy. He’s the real deal, if you know what I mean. And FUCKING FUNNY. (See Shoes.) Ah, and as he’ll likely read this he’ll say, “You didn’t include HOT” so for you Keith -- he’s a very handsome, sexy, double take, HOT (Top) man…. But you would have seen that from the pic above (even tho, as he states, in that photo I’m looking like the Daddy.)

As the good friend that he is, he has planned some fun activities for us including the Counting Crows / Goo Goo Dolls concert this Saturday night, he’s appropriately spread the word to all his did-I-mention-hot friends of my pending arrival, accompanied by the sightseeing, dinners, friends-over-for-movie-night, and visiting my first gay Cowboy bar. In fact I’m sure we’ll be visiting a few clubs while I’m in Dallas / Fort Worth area to taste the local flavors, if you will.

It’s funny, as if it weren’t for Keith I’d likely have never visited Texas. It wasn’t on my radar screen of gay friendly places to visit (yes, everyone knows about Austin) and certainly being the home of GWB it’s not exactly high on my list. But Keith will make it fun, memorable, and certainly full of laughs.