So the adventure begins

So the adventure begins… After having missed my flight to Paris I am in the Sheraton hotel in Washington Dullas, where upon arriving I stop for a drink at their bar appropriately named the Cosmopolitan, but I of course had a Manhattan on the rocks with Makers. I meet a fantastic self proclaimed “gay biker” named Johnny, who tells me about the best Mexican food in Warrington, Virginia, a place called El Agave. He says he’ll take me there one day when I am back in town, and wants my name as I’ll be famous one day he says. It’s lovely to acquire such confidence in strangers, he is proud and thanks me for my work at the Center and the cause of gay marriage, and I feel good about this and miss the people at the Center. He has a bar thru his nose and goes to Burning Man every year and can tell that I would be a good camping buddy. It’s funny the people that you meet on the road who you can tell have similar view points as you. He is part of an organization called the Dullas triangles, I tell him I will look it up, he’s clearly had too many but no matter we are at the hotel bar together, with two south Korean bartenders and he knows the correct pronunciation of bejing and shanghai, even though he grew up in Oklahoma, but as he says he is educated Oklahoma, and I get his whole story of his childhood in Tempee, Arizona. Being an adolescent in a small town and getting beat up and spit on because he was no good at sports, and only the jocks were praised, until he moved to Oklahoma and they treasured those who were good at academics and it wasn’t until later when he was in college that he realized (because people told him) that he was actually the cool guy because he was smart. All this in the matter of half an hour, people just want to share their stories and you have to let them and listen. My only wish is that my memory was a good as their stories, though if I capture it now at least that is something. At this moment in time it appears that we have made the kind of friends that might actually keep in touch, though clearly this remains to be seen. Of course I doubt that I will ever make it to el Agave in virgina, even though he has boasted that it is the best chile relleno he has ever eaten and I love to eat, which I tell him and he instantly knows just by looking at me that this is something I would appreciate. All the matter I have his fantastic business card and anything is possible, I may travel the world or at least to Virginia for the best chile relleno. But for right now I am here, in the Sheraton, planning to order breakfast in bed, my favorite kind of breakfast and then to prepare for my flight which will now be leaving at 4pm to arrive in Paris on Saturday at 6 am. In truth I was happy to miss my flight to stay in this clean relaxing hotel and sleep like I have never slept before, as I am utterly exhausted after getting ready to leave New York. Thanks for reading, stay tuned for more updates when I actually arrive in Paris.
Xoxo,
Augs