Daniel

Daniel and I met in 1987. The exact date neither of us are sure of, as he used to work at the supermarket where I shopped, and I shopped a lot. I used to go there and buy my goods and Daniel would often be working the registers, and would normally open his register just as I was ready to check out. Well anyway, after some months, we saw each other out at a nightclub – each other assuming that not only we were gay, but also attached to someone else. On November 21, 1987, Daniel and I handed each other a note with our name, address and telephone number on it in the Safeway Glen Huntly carpark (he had offered to help me carry my one bag of groceries to the car). That afternoon, I dropped in and was invited to dinner with Daniel and a friend. We chatted, we flirted and when the dinner was over, I thanked him for a lovely evening and left … hoping that he would call! On Sunday, 22 November 1987, he called and invited me out to a nightclub. I went, and for the next eleven and a half years we shared our lives with each other, travelling the globe and making many new friends. My first boyfriend, and my first true love. We bought our house, and had our cats (Ronald and Nancy – Ronald was cat napped in 1990), and did our parties (the above picture is of us at our tenth anniversary party). While it all seemed picture perfect, I had begun to feel like things weren’t going well, and after a lot of soul searching, and (personal) misery, I decided that I needed to make a change. I wasn’t sure what that change would be, until I met Chris during one of our visits to the US. After coming back, the next six or so months were spent trying to work out how I was going to break our relationship, while maintaining a friendship with Daniel. I moved to the USA in early 1999 ending our relationship. Over time (about six months) we discovered our friendship again, and I will always love Daniel for being such an important part of my life, and a wonderful friend.