Month: August 2009

Mystery of the locked garage

Last night I got back from Austin late and after arriving home went straight to bed. Today I ventured out into the back yard for the first time since we departed last week and noticed two very strange things:

  1. Two of our patio chairs were stacked atop each other immediately in front of our padlocked gate as if someone had used it to hop the fence.
  2. The door to the garage was locked but not the way I had left it. I had left it with the deadbolt locked and the handle unlocked but it was currently the other way around.

I went into the garage and confirmed that nothing was missing — both bikes were there along with all the other stuff we have in our garage. This puzzled me greatly. Why would a burglar climb over the fence, pick a deadbolt on the door, not steal anything, lock it back, and use the chairs to climb over the fence? Nope, that’s just crazy. Well, perhaps they came in through the garage, not stole anything, unlocked the deadbolt, locked the handle, and climbed over the fence. No, that’s just crazy too. This oddity has been bothering me all afternoon and I was very apprehensive about leaving (yet again) for work travel tomorrow.

This afternoon I went next door to let our neighbor Liz know that due to this unexpected work travel I wasn’t going to be able to watch her dog as planned this week. As soon as she saw me, she said “have I got a story for you!”. The story being…

A Grandmother’s love

One of the results of my decision to not attend my brother’s wedding was needing to call my Granny Dot and let her know that I wouldn’t be going and why. Up until this point I’d never told Granny Dot that I was gay, but she’s one smart cookie and I figured she already knew. The conversation went well (no awkwardness) and we continued to talk about the usual stuff for the next hour — she’s a talker so this is about par.

I received this letter in the mail a few days after the wedding:

Dearest Casey,

It was so good to hear from you. The news you told me was no surprise to me – I had suspected the situation for a long time. I know you didn’t wake up one day and decide to be gay – it is an inborn thing and is natural to you but the average person views it as unnatural, because it doesn’t follow the norm. They need to stop and evaluate all the couples who co-habitate. In my opinion there is not much difference.

Of course I had looked forward to your children to love, but my love for you has never changed and never will. You are a part of me and Papa and we have always been proud of you. Just be happy and people will learn to accept the situation. I wish you every happiness.

I love you –
Granny

While some of my other family members are very supportive and encouraging (specifically Kelly and Nicole) – this is by far the most affirming letter I’ve ever received from my family. And yes, I did cry when I got it.

There are bright spots to the otherwise gloomy situation.