Message Board Celebrity Of The Day (Part I) - papalovesmambo — Page 119

congrats dg! and congrats margo form yesturday (i forgot to post! bad abba!)

---

I'm such a sap - I'm sitting here with tears in my eyes. So many people have touched me so very deeply here, and I really feel like we have shared a bit of our lives together (as Beacon said earlier, TWO YEARS! ) I am thrilled, delighted - and humbly grateful - to have taken the seeds planted here and made them beautiful flowers in the garden of my life. The warm thoughts and caring are only proof that I have much to be thankful for.




But it's Hugh and the Scotch that I really wish weren't just pictures on my screen

yip yip yippeee!! DEEEEEEJ! make it work! rock the kasbah on your day! you're the best!

---

I do have an Aunt Enola. Perhaps you could go with NoseGay?

---

Is there any one lesson you've learned from sustaining your relationship that you would want to impart?

---

What were your favorite memories from you time in the Air Force?

This is kind of odd, but my last year in I made a very dear friend (even lived with her – platonically - for awhile) who turned out to be Nina Simone’s daughter. At the time, I didn’t know who Nina was, so I was introduced to a whole bunch of music that I wasn’t familiar with, and by extension, a group of people and way of thinking that taught me so much.

What do believe are the biggest issues facing the American military today?

Hmmm, facing the military as an organization, not the members, huh? Well, I’d say the biggest one is figuring out a way to honor the contracts they make with the people who have chosen to serve. Too many items in the deal – both written and unspoken – are being manipulated or outright invalidated.

After that, it’s pretty much just getting who they need – because as that reputation spreads, fewer and fewer are willing to participate.

Another thing that’s happened is that, as the military depends more and more on technology, the type of member they need keeps changing. More education is necessary, which means they can’t rely on the poor and/or desperate like they have in the past.

Is there any one lesson you've learned from sustaining your relationship that you would want to impart?

What I would want to say is tied directly into why I’m in the relationship in the first place. I had always been alone, and actually very much liked that state of being. But I had reached a point in my life that I had really started to just ‘tread water’ – no growth, no challenges, no change. When I met my partner, the immediate connection allowed me to see the potential for both of us to spark each other to higher levels of living.

So what sustains me is the knowledge that we are better together than apart. And everything - the good, the bad, the joyful, the sad, the peaceful, the turbulent – is acceptable because it is part of the whole package that lifts he and I as individuals.

Working from that, I guess what I would say to others is to find the thing that is the true reason for moving forward in life with a connection – that thing that gives it meaning for you as an individual. Then, when you have moments of unrest, or times when it just isn’t making much sense, you can look to that thing and try to see how it feeds that need, no matter the struggle of the moment.

Amasis - you have always been one of the most special posters to me, because you exemplify the power of this forum to connect us around the world.

As Shira will tell you, I have enough penguins around me in this house to look at no matter WHERE I turn, so having that beautiful man to see - who is always there in my heart - is perfection. Thank you

DD - a penguin on skies is wonderful - it's how I'll think of you always!

I looked for a naked penguin for you D, but, well, they're always naked. Classy, but naked.

DG, if you were an automobile, any year/make/model, what automobile would you be, and why?

DD, I knew you always asked this, and I’ve really been trying to think about it! Because of an obsession of my partner’s, I’m surrounded by models of cars – and I keep looking at all of them to try and see how I feel about this.

I think I have to go with something older, because I seem to resonate with, dare I say, a simpler time. And probably something on the elegant side, because I’ve been told I exude that essence. It would have to have some swooping curves, because I tend toward movement that is smooth and fluid, rather than choppy or abrupt. And I think something French, as that’s the source of my ancestry (Normandy, which then moved into Holland.)

SO . . . the 1937 Talbot Lago.

DG, did you get to see Simone as AIDA? Or maybe when she was in Rent?

---