Christmas is over. I’m not happy about that.
This year was a mostly good Christmas. There was no drama at any of the family gatherings.
I had some great moments, even though I was doing my shopping at the last moment which usually drags out my inner beast.
I live in Oklahoma; southern state, smack in the Bible Belt. Not very metropolitan, in general, and people here are not always very accepting of each other. Especially when someone is different looking, and there’s still a lot of racism prevalent. It was a couple of days before Christmas when I went shopping this day. I “gothed out” as my Mum has dubbed it because I figured out years ago that if you’re dressed goth, crowds do not smother you in the manic Christmas shopping. People leave you a bubble of space. That’s important to me as I have claustrophobia about being around lots of people.
I was in Bath & Body Works in a local mall picking up some things for my sisters and the pile in my arms kept growing and growing until I was having trouble balancing it along with my other shopping bags. I was then approached by an associate there; a truly beautiful amazon of a woman. She looked like her heritage was a mix of Asian and African American; she had high wide cheekbones and almond shaped amber eyes, and skin I would kill for, how beautiful and golden it was. She was at least six feet tall.
She held out a Bath & Body Works shopping bag to me. “Here, girl. Put that in here!” I smiled gratefully at her and then hesitated for a moment, deliberating over whether or not I should put my other shopping bags in it as it was large enough to hold them all.
She beamed a hearty smile at me. “Go ahead, just put it all in there. Even the bags. Easier on the hands!”
Her grin was irresistible. I smiled back and thanked her well. She said, “You ARE welcome girl. We got to watch out for our sistas.” She made brief glowing eye contact with me and then flitted on to help someone else.
Short and chunky white girl, in red and black gothic clothes from head to toe, funky hairdo, and goth makeup– and instead she saw me with vision I wish everyone had, she saw me for what I really was– a fellow female human out on a crazy fucking day.
I will always treasure that moment. Maybe that immediate, complete acceptance wouldn’t have been so unusual in another locale, but here in Oklahoma, stuff like that just flat doesn’t happen much.
I have to go back to work today. 
I overslept this morning and then wrote a little blog. hehe.
Really going now. Toodles, kids.
December 26th, 2007 at 7:08 pm
they are down there, just rare and far in between.
December 31st, 2007 at 12:56 pm
I love these moments. So easy to offer someone, but so meaningful. H-Mama and I were reading your blog and she laughed and related that her method of crowd control, especially when she was younger, was to talk to herself. People used to meet her and say, “Oh, you’re that woman who rants out loud when you walk, aren’t you?” She’d just verbalize her internal discussions as she walked around campus. She’s a tad on the ornery, take-me-as-I-am style. I was so much more concerned with fitting in and making no waves. Bravo for choosing a braver face for yourself. (And the reason we don’t ever visit OK, aside from time and money, is that as lesbians with kids, we could be screwed six ways from Sunday if, say, we were in a car accident and one of us was hurt or killed. God damned religious freak politicians, taking liberties with my life & choices.)