22 June 2023 First Crush

June 22, 2023 by saymber, posted in Bipolar life, Health, history, human rights, Mental Health, Spirituality and Religion, Veteran Affairs, Writing and blogging

Write about your first crush.

Hello to you. Hope this finds you doing well. I haven’t been out for a walk in a couple of days so no new pictures have been taken. Link hasn’t wanted to get around the block either. He’s turning into a little old man even though he looks like a puppy to me!

Todays prompt takes me back to senior high school. That’s when and where I had my first crush. His name was Wesley Byers and sadly he died of cancer on 4 June 2020 – fought for four years with it. Wes was a year ahead of me and it was his close resemblance to David Bowie that initially drew me to him. He hung out with a girl named Joy Farris – just good friends. My friend Laura encouraged me to persue him and we did naughty stuff like put whip cream on his house and donuts under his tires! I know childish but later we actually did meet. We went to the mall together as our first “date.” He picked me up in his blue Malibu car. My Mom and Dad figured out immediately that he was gay – I was clueless! We talked about a bunch of things and it was like talking to myself. We had so much in common to include music like Madonna. One of my favorite memories was visiting him at his house. I remember sitting in his kitchen and just being so happy- he was so beautiful. He had golden hair and brilliant blue eyes and such a lovely smile. In the summer when I took the girl I was babysitting for swim lessons we got to visit as his brother and sister went to lessons too.

The last exchange we had was while I was in the military and had started dating my soon to be husband Ken. Wes had been arrested for shoplifting and in response to the letter he wrote I wrote him a poem Prison of Tears. That’s the last I heard from him. I checked on him periodically through the years. I found out through Facebook my parents inklings about him were correct – he was gay and found a partner. What I found out more recently was he was doing drag with a stage name Roxy Marquis. There are a few videos of his shows on You tube : https://youtu.be/NalAoTySGwU

Corinthians 16:14New International Version

¹⁴Do everything in love.

4 January 2022 Being Comfortable

January 5, 2022 by saymber, posted in Bipolar life, Health, Music, Veteran Affairs, Writing and blogging

Hi how’s your day been? It’s been a gray mushy and slushy day both outside and in my brain. I’m feeling better but still uncomfortable trying to be comfortable lol! My nostrils are raw and I have been feeling light headed….yucky!

Today I was brave again and ventured in to the spare rooooom and tackled some more files. Part of me just feels like saying fuck it and just emptying the room. Just get rid of everything…..but I won’t! Still too sentimental. While I was in there I glared at my POS (piece of shit) printer I’m thinking about replacing. I haven’t replaced it because I know the same scam will come with a new printer – all too quickly it will run out of ink. That’s how they get you. Sell you a cheap printer and charge you through the nose for replacement printer cartridges! Yeah so not in a hurry to do that.

The other thing I did today was look to see if there were any videos of my high school crush’s alter ego Roxy Marquis performing and sure enough there were! Seeing him lip sync Madonna transported me to the two of us driving in his blue Malibu with Madonnas “Get into the Groove” playing in the background. I’m still processing his passing on. There is a part of me that wishes I hadn’t gone back checking on him. I just didn’t expect he would be dead. That he had suffered for 4 years with lymphoma. Sigh. Life isn’t fair.

So it’s getting dark…..

“Where did you go tiny piece of star stuff? All smiling golden and ocean blue what has the Universe done with you?”

29 December 2021 Flurries and Wesley

December 29, 2021 by saymber, posted in Bipolar life, Health, Leading Life by Example, Mental Health, photography, Spirituality and Religion, Veteran Affairs, Writing and blogging

Hello to you. It’s still snowing as I write to you. I don’t know how much we are supposed to get but it doesn’t show any sign of slowing down. If I wasn’t an adult I wouldn’t care. The neighbor kids have their snowsuites on and are having so much fun! I was thinking of how fun it is to make snow angels and then two of them did it! At some point I’m going to have to go unbury my car. Adulting sucks sometimes!

Yesterday I decided to look up an old crush from senior high school and I wasn’t prepared for what I found. He had made a successful career as a manager at Barnes and Noble and as an entertainer. He had been cross dressing and his characters name was Roxy Marquis. He got married to the man he loved. What I wasn’t prepared for was that he got lymphoma and fought the cancer for 4 years. He died in 2020 from it and he was my age- we were a year apart! All the memories I had of him filled my head last night and it was hard to sleep. I had such a crush on him when we were in school! I was too smitten with him to pick up that he was different…that he was gay. He was so beautiful to me. Finding this out evoked a lot of emotions. Why did he have to go through what he did? I felt so scared and sad last night just thinking how hard he fought to live. I hope in his heaven he has peace. RIP Wesley Byers – https://m.startribune.com/obituaries/detail/0000358638/

This morning I found out a friend, Tanya Knight, from my tribe in Alvarado, succumbed to cancer too! She was the most gentle and beautiful woman you could ever meet. Just so vibrant and full of life – she was a healer. I can’t believe she’s gone.

Last night as I was tossing, turning and crying I talked to God. “God I don’t understand suffering and death! It scares me. I feel so powerless – where are you God? Sometimes it just feels like you’ve abandoned us and I don’t want to believe that. Don’t let me waste this gift you have given me…..this life.”

Both Wes and Tanya still have their Facebook pages up. I’m glad they were so I could pay my respects. I didn’t know Facebook did that.

I hope something here resonated. I need to pull myself together and live this day. I think that’s the best way we can honor those who have gone before us – live!