Gay, straight, it didn’t matter when it came time for that midnight kiss.
This year (last year?), to celebrate New Years Eve, we were invited to the house of our good friends, (and for the purposes of this story, awesome straight couple) Matt & Anne. Matt and Anne are expecting their first baby (a boy) in April. They have been unbelievably supportive of my husband, Jamie and I, and our little man, Matteo. Arriving at their house felt right, a great way to end the year with people we love. About as soon as we entered, I took Matteo into their bedroom, closed the door behind me, and in their bed gave him his bottle. I tried to convince him that there was not a wonderful party going on, that this was his awesome hotel room for the night, and I let him roll around on Anne’s pregnancy pillow a good 20 times. Outside the bedroom door, more and more guests arrived, a nice backdrop of happy voices, strangers meeting strangers to ring in the new year. Once Matteo’s snores had sunk into that rhythmic, thank-god-he’s-seriously-asleep-right-now (parents will know what I mean), I quietly wrapped him in his blanket and walked out into the wonderful world of adults, where I can say “Fuck” freely, and have a conversation without saying, “no no no”.
And my hope is, that one day in the future, the kids will wonder why it was even noteworthy for one of their parents to write about a room full of straight and gay couples kissing each other at the very stroke of midnight, and call it ‘a rare and beautiful site’.
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As I poured my drink and looked around the room, I found myself quietly smiling, and not because of the vodka. There in Matt and Anne’s living room, were a perfect blend of both gay and straight couples all around, many meeting each other for the very first time. People exchanged stories of where they were from, how they had come to Washington, where they were the previous New Years Eve, etc. It was a wonderful melting pot of couples, with the only identifiable feature that truly seemed to divide along party lines was the Football Game, which the straights were thoroughly enjoying watching, and the Kathy Griffin and Anderson Cooper New Years Eve Special, that the gays wished were on instead.
As we neared the final two minutes of the year, I watched as the various couples maneuvered around the room to stand next to their significant others. I called over to my husband Jamie, “Hey, come sit over here with me.”
And then the final countdown.
As the stroke of midnight passed, I glanced around the room, and there in the most beautiful moonlight backdrop of Washington, staggered one right next to another, I watched as straight couples and gay couples leaned over to their respective partners, and kissed each other all at the same time. They looked into each others eyes with the same message, the same gratitude of a year completed together, and the hope of another fulfilling year yet to come.
♥♥♥
I have been in many rooms with diverse sexual orientations, but somehow not one so well balanced with the same number of gay and straight couples. It was, in those few seconds I had to process, the most perfect snapshot, the way I feel the world should be. As we all began making our way out of Matt and Anne’s home, I looked at them, knowing that this would be the very last New Years Eve they would ever spend, just the two of them. Next year they’ll have their little boy crawling around. He’ll grow up to play with our son, Matteo. One of them will have two dads, and the other will have a mom and a dad. And my hope is, that one day in the future, they both will wonder why, on the eve of the Year 2014, is was even noteworthy for one of their parents to write about a room full of straight and gay couples, who kissed each other at the very stroke of midnight, and why that was a rare and beautiful site.
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Originally published at GayDadSwag.com and is republished on Medium.
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Photo credit: iStock
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Also about the The Dads and their Little Dude:
Raising Our Man to Be a Man
The Funniest Things Strangers Said to Us After We Adopted Our Dude
Sorry Little Dude, But Your Dads Are Still Confused