I was about to head off to work this morning and I noticed that dear Michael9344 had already started this thread. I felt kinda weird answering it so soon, but I had some errant thoughts and I felt they were best placed here and not in a blog post.
Today is my 30th Birfday (I'm from New England) and just as I was getting up to go to work, the first place I checked for birthday wishes was not on my phone, or on facebook, but it was here on GA, and seeing this thread put a big smile on my face and really made my morning bright. My thought was: that it is not my family, nor my great friends that really understand what it's like for me sometimes; being gay that is. I don't know a lot of other people like us and in my current line of work coming out to the customers is... well not in the cards. I somehow knew that there would already be a post up and that gave me great comfort.
Growing up I had a great fear of letting my 'true' self show and in high school I was a nightmare. I was selfish, I was a liar, and I was cruel. For my 17th birthday I invited 20 of my 'friends' to come to my birfday party and not a single person showed. That really paved the way for my insecurity about my birthday and struck the first crack that would eventually lead me to coming out. Since then I have learned the value of true friendship, about being honest, and sharing and the real 'value' of things.
I want you all to know that here on GA you are all wonderful beautiful people, that you are all precious and that I value all of you. You have taken the same journey I have, some have had it worse off, and others a lot better. But I wanted to share the thought that you are all special and beautiful and I want to thank each and every one of you for the thoughts and wishes and I return them to you 100 fold with hugs and a humble heart.
Thank you all for letting me into your lives and sharing in this great community.
All my love
Cailen