I have considered John Jericho and I committed partners since August 25, 1991. However, the official date for defining our exclusive romance as a married couple was March 21st of the following year. On this, our twenty-second Thanksgiving together, I find myself wondering where the years have disappeared. I don’t believe they are gone, but held within my heart, as memories of each holiday season serves to remind me exactly what I am thankful for.
In remembering Thanksgiving nineteen ninety-one, I was barely a young man of eighteen. John was twenty-six, and everything that I desired in a gay male. Right before the start of the holiday season, Baby Doll and I moved into our first home together. I believe we were already committed then. That had been a certainty since our first kiss. However, it would take us another seven months to experience sexual intimacy together. During that time we kissed, cuddled, and slept in the same bed as romantic friends. Eventually, evolving into passionate lovers.
On our first Thanksgiving together John opened his heart, as I listened to hurts he had suffered at the hands of another gay man. I came to my own conclusions about his abusive lover, deciding that he knew nothing about how to satisfy a flamboyant gay man in a top / bottom dynamic. From the early moments of our relationship, it was an unspoken bond that I would be John’s protector, his provider, and his top as I’ve loved him both emotionally and physically since with a tender dominance.
Each year on Thanksgiving, my mind returns to that night twenty-two years ago, as I remember John falling asleep in my arms. While he slept, I laid awake for a long time, experiencing a Thanksgiving revelation of my own.
Baby Doll had told me that he was thankful for my ability to see into his heart. I in turn replied that I was grateful he had saved mine. For those who doubt that an individual can be consumed, washed in a moments’ breathe, with a love that defies all reason, I can say that I hold a piece of that Heaven in my arms every night. When someone walks into your life and pulls you out of a hell, it is hard not to feel that you’ve been rescued by an angel. My path crossed with John two days before my planned suicide. I was transformed from a suicidal transman, into the FTM (female-to-male) that I am today, because of his love.
While many Thanksgivings have passed since that romantic night, there has been much for both John and I to be thankful for. Together we have two beautiful children and many supportive friends and family. I know that the most important gifts in life are the ones that cannot be materialized or purchased, but those felt with the heart. Love is an incredible emotion, defined and felt in many facets. During this holiday season, I am most thankful for having known love.
John Jericho and I would like to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving.
Andrew K Kinley is a ManLove erotic romance author for Siren-Bookstrand Publishing and LGBTQ rights activist based in Hot Springs, AR. All of his work can be found at: A K Kinley. For questions or comments please e-mail him at authorakkinley@gmail.com.
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