Thursday, April 30, 2009

The boys

My mother has an antique shop in a nice neighborhood in a town near where she lives. The street that it is on is a little community of quirky shops and artisans. You can get anything from your nails and hair done, to original art - with ice cream, tapas and wine, good quality souvenirs, hand made jewelry, or a tarot card reading thrown in. Through this community my mother met the men she calls "the boys".

The boys consist of three men, probably in their late 50s or early 60s, that live together - Wade, Bobby and Gill. Wade and Bobby are a couple. Unfortunately, Gill lost his partner and I think he is single. I'm not sure how they ended up living together, or how they own 2 pieces of property, but they rent the house they don't live in to my mother. That is where she currently lives.

When I first heard about this, it blew my mind. My mother has gay men for friends? And Gill is a psychic that she lets read tarot cards for her? And she actually believes in it? Who are you and what did you do with my closed minded, judgemental, kinda prejudiced mother? And she laughs when she tells me how vulgar Gill is, she won't repeat anything he has said, but she thinks he's funny.

But more than that, these guys take care of her as best they can. Anything that she needs, if they are able to help in any way, they will, and they do. They are good guys.

On our last night in Florida, my mother had the boys over for dinner, a belated birthday dinner for Bobby. They were extremely nice, but Gill stole the show. My mother had asked him in advance to try to hold back because of my son. I told him to let loose, I knew my son would enjoy it as much as I would, and I was right. This guy is funny. The kind of funny that he doesn't care if anyone is laughing along with him. He lets out this infectious guffaw from deep in the back of his throat that you can't help but laugh along, "Hunh-HAAAA!".

The highlights of the evening:

Apparently the street the shops are on was going to be closed down for a Red Hat Society Parade. In order to march in the parade, you had to have a group of ladies in purple wearing the red hats, and each group had to elect a leader, The Queen. Gill's quip, "at least I won't be the only queen on the street that day, Hunh-HAAAA!".

During dinner, something on the table made a mess and my mother cautioned to watch out for it when picking it up, the bottom might be sticky. Gills quip, "Oh, I've had a sticky bottom many times. Hunh-HAAAA!".

After dinner, my mother put some candles in a cake and we sang Happy Birthday to Bobby. As soon as the singing was over, while the candles were still lit, Gill says, "Okay, Bobby, now do what we do best! Hunh-HAAAA!".

I love this guy.

9 comments:

Candy's daily Dandy said...

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Oh, I love that guy too! What a riot. Life with him is nver boring that's for sure.

They are wondeful "boys" taking care of your mother. Sounds like they have created a nice little extended family.

Scope said...

There's the family you're born into, and the family that you make with the friends you pick up along the way.

Paige said...

Sounds like your mom has great friends--and how nice that she shares them with you

Jodi said...

I love gay men and women. Not to stereotype or anything, but I find them much more "real" and friendly than most of us!

Your mom has an antique store?! Would she adopt me???

Prunella Jones said...

I just love people with that kind of joy de vivre! Glad your mom has the boys in her life.

Gwen said...

I love the boys and want to keep them in my pocket.

I bet it's nice for you, knowing they keep a close eye on her.

~E said...

I have some friends like that here... Enrique, Scott and Puppy. Puppy's real name isn't Puppy but I can't remember it right now. They all three are "together".

Long story but just wanted to say I'm glad for your mom that she has friends like that!

Hit 40 said...

I love to laugh at my own jokes. My students laugh even harder seeing me laugh and my eyes water. We all have a great time!!

And gay guys... they are the best! I found out how fun they are working at a restaurant as a teenager that had a "gay" bar. The waiters and waitresses were all gay too!!! They would invite me to their parties. Very fun.

JoJo said...

I love gay men.