dear-this-and-that:

There is something so absolutely sacred about sitting in a darkened theatre next to your best friend from high school, crying together over a movie you wish you could have seen when you were 15. It was a sense of something almost holy, being able to exist there, side by side, finally sharing a commonality that bonded you together long before either one of you had ever dared to say it out loud. I could hear him shaking in the seat next to me, and I knew this was something neither one of us would be likely to forget any time soon. 

You are the movie I wish I had when I was still trying to figure out who I was. You made coming out seem normal and something to be celebrated. You don’t know how much I appreciate that. You told me what I wish I had heard all those years ago. I don’t know how to explain it, but I was engulfed in a very intense emotion from hearing a main character say the words “I’m gay” on screen to his friend without threat or danger hanging over his head. Just that simple outright acknowledgement reduced me to absolute tears. Sitting here now, there are tears again. A happy ending is all I’d ever wanted and been denied by every indie coming of age lgbt movie and you swooped in with your happy soundtrack and bright, cheesy colours. My knight in shining armour. 

I didn’t realize it until the end, but I had been physically tense the whole time I sat there. I think, unconsciously I had been sitting there waiting for an unhappy ending. The wave of relief I felt at a beautifully happy ending is a high I’ll be chasing for the rest of my life. 

You are important. You’ve been called cheesy, simple, mediocre. What these people fail to understand is these are what make you incredible and breathtaking. I got to sit next to my newly out best friend from high school and we got to watch something made for us that normalized what made us different from others. We got to cry all the tears we should have been able to when we were 16. I got to share what other friends have been sharing for decades, and what I never thought I’d get. You didn’t have to be pretentious, or emotional, or political. The fact that you weren’t is what made you stunning to me.

Thank you. From now on you’ll exist as something close to my heart. You were incredible.

Love,

Me

We haven’t even seen the movie yet, just clips and I had tears rolling down my face as I read this. We just watched Call Me By Your Name, so Love, Simon is next. It’s pretty amazing that mainstream movies are actually making being gay, really ok! One of the things that make this movie so important is to know our gay son is living in a time where his friends, gay and straight actually cheered and were so happy for him and his just out BF, when they got together. You see, his peers see this as a normal relationship and were just happy they found each other. Thanks Love, Simon!
💙

Oh btw we are going to see Love, Simon with Jeremy his BF and a group of their friends this weekend. We know the buzz around school is excitement to see this movie!!