Our first Christmas 2007

This is our first Christmas photo together.  The Christmas tree is actually behind us.  the tree is 4.5 foot tall.  As you could see only a few christmas presents.  On the wall you see a stocking which I had crocheted that year.  

 The photos below was Christmas day and I wished that it snowed that day.  15 minutes on Christmas day it snowed, so later that night we decided to go out in the snow to have a walk.

Hello Portland Oregon

I had learned Craig’s way of living.  He used to be a chef but then was having issues which caused him to stop working.  He was getting Section 8 and the rent was $9.00 a month which the landlord never came to pick up.  Basically Craig was staying there for free on the 2^nd floor in a 2 family house.  Craig was also waiting for disability.   I was also introduced to his Himalyan Siamese cat Buster.

So, now that I was in Portland/Vancouver, it’s time to look for a job after I settled in.  It felt strange on looking for work in a new state or new area that you never been before.  Even though we lived in Vancouver, I would still need to go in and out of Portland for work, unless of course I find a job right in Vancouver.  Once thing I hate is applying for work especially filling out those application forms.  I wish there was a button on the computer where you could click and it will automatically click into the blank entries of the application forms. Well, maybe someday it will.

Our first picture together

I knew that I had to find a job somewhere, and wanted to and wished that I had a job straight away.  I even looked at a grocery store and there were two interviews but there wasn’t any call backs, and that was around 2007 during the Christmas holidays.  I would have thought they would need me during the busiest time of the year considering I left the grocery store back in Arizona.  I wasn’t sure why they never called me back but also at the same time I had a hunch that they called my last job which I put in my 2 weeks’ notice but had left a week early because of the flight.  I never liked that grocery job back in Arizona because they were decreasing my hours down to 12 hours a week and I couldn’t afford that.  I was disappointed on no call back.

Goodbye Arizona

So I was on my flight to be with Craig and was ready to leave Arizona.  I was looking out the window in the plane and thinking back of all the things I had done in Arizona, the memories that I had made for those past 6 years, new friends that I had made before I left.  I was sad but yet glad that I was leaving Arizona because for the most part of my dud relationships, and it was now bringing me to new adventures and experiences. 

One thing I couldn’t explain to my family was that how I to explain to them that Craig was is HIV, and then I thought could someone who does not have the HIV virus have a relationship with someone with HIV.  This was my challenge.  I believe that someone who doesn’t have HIV can have a relationship with someone with HIV.  I wasn’t going to leave him out in the cold or defriend him just because I found out that he has HIV.  It’s not my nature to do something like that.  It’s not right because you cannot have the HIV virus while being in a relationship.  It also taught me not to fear of people with HIV and learn a little bit about HIV.  So I set an example to the family and they understood about the situation and my thoughts and views on it considering that Craig’s sex drive isn’t really high and that is okay. 

I still couldn’t believe that I actually left Arizona, but I guess it was meant to be.  Mom and her husband moved back to New York (two years prior that I left) and found a condo in New Jersey so I was alone there so it was time for me to move on.  I was actually happy that I left so that I could be able to move on and leave the bad memories behind and start fresh. 

When I arrived I spotted him straight away.  He was sitting down.  He had his friend Doyle with him who happens to be his ex.  Boy did I hear stories about Doyle turned out they were all true later on and I will probably mention him a few times in this blog.  According to Craig, Doyle likes to go everywhere with Craig every time Craig meets someone just to see what the person looks like.  He was a bit of a nosey body.  I’m not interested in these kind of people. 

Welcome

I decided to create this blog, yes another one.  Some of you may know me as for creating blogs and using them for different things.  This blog is going to be about my relationship.  I used to live in Ireland until I returned to the United States year 2000 thinking I was going to be alone, which is why I returned to the US so I could find someone.  Why did I return to the US and thought I was going to be alone?  Well when you are a gay man in a small town and hiding this secret to the public it can be really hard to find someone to connect.  I figured if I return to the US, I would find someone.  I had found quite a few relationship but they all turned bad between verbal abuse, physical abuse, psychotic, and being used. 

Right now I am in a 5 year relationship with a guy name Craig.  It will be 6 years we will be together in September.  Some of you know Craig being a very kind hearted person just like myself.  We basically live a normal life just like everybody else with our 3 cats:  Bella, Augustina, and Buster.  This September will be our 6^th year on being together. 

I was living in the hell heated state of Arizona at the time when I met Craig while he had lived in Vancouver Washington just over the bridge of Portland Oregon.  We met online through one of the social websites.  I had talked to him before like two summers ago that time but thought he wasn’t interested in me.  But I was surprised we started talking again and even used Yahoo Messenger to talk basically every night on it as well as talking on the telephone.   People that I had talked to in Portland Oregon knew Craig so I asked them about him and they told me he was a really nice guy.  You would think that would learn my lesson on taking risks on relationships.  I even gave him my credit card number to order pizza one time because he was hungry and had no money.  I was building that trust after several times if he could use the card…SO THAT WAS A GOOD THING.

After about 5 months of talking on the phone, emailing, and Yahoo messaging him, we planned on being together.  The plan was for me to move up to Washington.  I asked him when he would like me to move up there and suggested that November (at the time was August) which was around my Birthday the perfect gift.  He thought that felt a little too long, so my friend Dusty who came from Washington at the time because of his work insisted on booking my flight and asked me when I wanted to go because he was going to pay for it.  I thought that was really nice of him to do so.  So I told him it would be September 15^th.

 Craig was really pleased when I told him I got a sooner flight.