this  Slavic looking bald pill guy appeared like an hour later …with the mini paper cup…..and Jim asked ARE these the STRONG ones…as I have had a painful day…

(he had to go to Temple Hospital for new Xrays…but when he got to Temple with another inmate…there were NO instructions to the staff that they were coming…..so they both had to sit for an hour in their wheel chairs before ANYTHING was done…)

Jim was as USUAL…VERY cheerful….I never know if it is the drugs or his normal self..

he had put on the new  Puma track suit that I had bought for him….. as  he had told the nurses that I WAS arriving at 3……………….

a week ago he was wearing it but ended up peeing in it before I arrived so made them change him back into his hospital gown…..with the ass showing in the back…..

(none of this matters to me…but they have told him that wearing regular clothing benefits most of the inmates psychological condition..)…

it FOR ME …is touching…as I NOW realize how helpless an incapacitated person MUST FEEL

Jim though has become feistier …which means he is on the mend….as one of his nurses came in last night and saw that he was watching the Republican Debate…and said ARE YOU A REPUBLICAN???

Jim was about to say…you better believe your Asian ass…but fortunately did not…

she said “you are ONLY for the RICH people…..IF you have so much money…WHY are your HERE???!!!

(Jim does  not come from a wealthy family…he was born in Morris Illinois…outside of Chicago….and my Uncle Sumner …who was his second and last lover….told me that he really wanted to go back to Morris …as it must be the “cheapest” …or “thriftiest town” …in the US…as everyone he met from Morris NEVER opened their wallets …..and if they did…moths would fly out…)

an aside…Jim’s oldest friend from Morris..who grew up on “the wrong side of the tracks”  from Jim….(Jim and he came from what was called “Blue Collar Stock”….both of their fathers alcoholics)….

well Bob has over a million dollars in Disney stock …keeps $176,000.00 in 4 checking accounts….and lives in this cheap  apartment …which 30 years ago was not in  a great neighborhood….

when he redecorated his place about 25 years ago…I went over with my Uncle and Jim…

I gather he  had repainted but on all the switch plates he had put aluminum foil…as though that was a “HOT” thing to do…..

I have not been back since….

I love Jim to bits….as I KNOW he will always be there for me…but at the end of the day I DO NOT need anyone “there for me”…..as I totally love myself….

there is so much history between us..

Uncle Sumner told Jim back in ’69 before I met him “ALWAYS take care of Robby”

I met Jim at one of my Uncle’s parties at Sumner’s  beach house in Maibu….in 1969 when I moved from college in Minnesota to LA…

Sumner’s house was well North of THE Colony in Malibu…above Trancas Beach….it rested way above the ocean (think there were 152 steps down to the beach)….it was a simple ranch house…but sooo wonderful….

this party  my Uncle threw for me…..and this was 1969…guys on the lawn…Jerry Toadvine’s lover …Russ had poppers (amyl nitrate) wound up in his Afro…..the player piano was going…..reefers being passed…

I was TOTALLY amazed ………..as I HAD NEVER experienced such a WILD GAY lifestyle…

Jim and I are so different ……but what binds us …

well basically my Uncle Sumner ..who showed Jim a side of life Jim would NEVER have been exposed to…

and a sense of humor……

frankly without out a sense of humor I frankly could never have survived …well anything…like my father’s intense canoe trips where you are flown into remote areas in the Arctic  and left for 30 days….well if you don’t have a sense of humor …you might as well give up….

now that I think back at my Life…I think of my dear partner ..Elizabeth …… in our shop “Elizabeth’s Staircase”…on Sunset Plaza in Weho…we use to travel to London and Paris  to buy antiques for our shop….

there was one particular day…..where we had gotten up at 3 to hit the Bermondsey Market at 4…..

as the day progressed…toting our purchases after many an hour…well we exhaustedly  got on the Tube to return to our hotel…but it meant changing at one station….where you had to go up over   down and around to get the correct tube…

well we were totally  WIPED OUT…we went up one group of stairs and over…but Liz had to use the loo……so we went on down that side…

.and then after she used the loo   we went back over, down,  and caught the tube…

we got off at a familiar station….only to realize that we ended up where we had started…

WELL we laughed SOOO  much that Liz “wetted” (sp?) herself….

I frankly have never laughed so much in my Life as I did with Liz…..she just made life so WONDERFUL….

and I miss her soo………………….

I just had dinner with 2 of my oldest friends….who are in their 80′s….and I truly TREASURE every moment I have with them…..

it is not dollars but laughter that will ALWAYS keep me going!!!

Treasure the people that make you laugh…as they ARE your WEALTH!!!