4. Meet Mr. Right Through Volunteering

             Even though OKCupid was 37 kinds of ridiculous, I still held out hope because, well, I had paid for hope.  The last straw came when my profile as liked by a gentleman who was a newly married bisexual man with a bisexual wife and they were in an open marriage and he wanted to meet me.  I am unsure what in my profile gave him the idea I would be interested in that type of interaction, but he had clearly mis-assessed the situation with little old vanilla me. 

                So, I returned to my list, saw Volunteering as the next avenue and decided to wait and see what would present itself.  I volunteer at my church and with the Transgender program in Orange County but those had offered no options for husband material. 

Now, I have always been someone who has an altruistic nature; I have long volunteered for all sorts of organizations and of late have been focused on trying to be the person I needed when I was younger, which led me to PFLAG. 

                PFLAG is Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays.  I first heard about it while watching the movie Reality Bites and never thought much else about it as there were no PFLAG chapters in Mississippi until very recently and even now there are only three chapters in the state.  There are three chapters within 10 miles of my house in SoCal, so I have an opportunity to get involved and be part of the support network for gay, lesbian and transgender youth. 

                I was invited to my first PFLAG meeting by an activist I met at a screening of a fantastic documentary called Equal Means Equal.  It’s about Women’s Rights and you need to see it as quickly as you can.  Get thee to an art theatre!  Ms. Activist is an active member of many, many organizations and PFLAG is but one.  When she asked me how I gave back to my community, I told her about some of my volunteering but she told me I could do more.  When challenged, I always rise to the occasion and when I arrived at the first meeting at the Jewish Synagogue, I realized this would strictly be about volunteering and not match-making.  There was not one single soul near my age.  Most were a bit older than me and more than a few were significantly older.  They were old, y’all.  Old like The Pope. 

However, this works for me on a number of levels.  I am a frog’s hair shy of 46 and am no longer anywhere near the youngest person at work, as I used to be.  I don’t think I look my age but it doesn’t mean I don’t often feel my age.  Being the youngest person in any location makes me feel younger, at least on the inside.  Why do you think I like Palm Springs so much?  I mean, other than they’re the only people who dress like me that aren’t actually playing golf or being rude to staff at a country club.

                I have no problem dating someone ten or even 12 years older, but I have my limits.  I am not looking to become someone’s home health aide.  I went into healthcare administration because it offers the opportunity to indirectly help those who are in ill health.  I don’t like me when I’m sick, much less someone else.  Realizing I was not to find my intended betrothed at this particular function, I spied someone very near my age, a lovely Japanese lady named Moss and moseyed on over to say “Howdy”.  Well, I said howdy metaphorically.  I don’t actually talk like that, at least not anymore. 

We immediately bonded and have become fast friends, spending lots of quality time enjoying the numerous things we have in common.  I even taught her how to make shrimp and grits, using a recipe she gave me.   She is the Asian Grace to my Southern Will.  What?  I could be a Will, multiple similarities to Beverly Leslie notwithstanding.  As we are both in search of a proper gentleman companion, we have decided to help each other find the right person.  And, who knows, maybe we’ll spend so much time together we will realize we are right for each other since everyone else is straight running crazy these days. 

Stranger things have happened, right?  Offhand I can’t think of any…