WORD AIDS DAY, 2011

WORD AIDS DAY, 2011

Ron was my very first boyfriend. He was already HIV+ (I was, and am, still HIV-) when we were dating. He was a journalist and gave me a lot of aspiration on who and what I wanted to do as an adult. He passed away about two years after we had stopped dating.

Laith became HIV+ about eight months after we broke up, and though we never reconnected wholly as friends, I was grateful that we at least got to work along side each other some years later, and were able to put some closure on that relationship. He passed away about a year after we reconnected.

Both of these men gave me a lot of formative ideas and hopes in my earlier days. I still carry much of those ideas within me as a result of knowing them back then. And, like so many people who knew them, I wish they were still here.

For Ron. For Laith. I fell in love with you then, and I still love you now. You both will always be a part of my heart. Always.