I’ve worn my heart on my sleeve since I was little. It’s a fashion choice that’s gotten me into trouble a few times over the years, but one that’s ultimately served me well.
For as long as I can remember, I’ve just loved love – and since I’ve never had a poker face, it’s shown. Thankfully being transparent about my feelings has kept me pretty in touch with them, which I think helped me realize early on that I wanted to get married.
I don’t know if it was because I “played house” with my friends too often as a kid – if memory serves, in an Oscar-worthy performance as the husband of a doting wife – or because I was born a hopeless romantic and Disney fan, but it always felt like something I wanted to do. I trust quickly and love wholeheartedly, so in true princess fashion the perfect place to do that seemed like a marriage.
I felt that way before and after I realized I was gay, intending to marry the right person at the right time even years before marriage equality became the law of the land. That’s because I always trusted that the work LGBTQ activists had done for decades would lead the country to make it possible one day.
I leaned heavily on my occasionally naive optimism for that – another trait that’s gotten me into trouble at times – and thankfully the Supreme Court finally affirmed in 2015 what our community always knew: love is love. A year later I got to play house with a husband of my own, and this time the doting was mutual.
Except we weren’t playing house as much as playing apartment. We were happy there, but not long after our wedding we decided to double down to save money, build our credit and purchase a home.
We set five years as a benchmark, which seemed far enough away at the time to calm my nerves about home ownership. It was never something I’d considered a possibility, perhaps because it was never one for my parents. They made several homes for me over the years but never actually purchased one.
Nothing’s wrong with that, of course. They gave me everything I needed as a child, most often at their own expense, it’s just that a permanent residence never made the cut.
I never felt it needed to, so as an adult I followed suit. At 18 I moved into a campus dorm and in the nearly two decades since, I’ve bounced between apartments. That changed this year.
My husband and I were fortunate enough to close on a home in April and we’ll be moving in this month. We’re excited for a number of reasons, among them that we’ll finally prove to ourselves that we haven’t spent weeks prepping someone else’s property.
Home ownership has been a surreal process thus far, one that began when our apartment complex asked us to renew in January. My husband was long past wanting to so we casually decided to apply for a home loan. In an unexpected twist, our years of hard work paid off and it was approved.
Once we started looking, we quickly discovered what it meant to be a buyer in a seller’s market. If you’re not familiar with the term and you’re looking to buy, buckle up. If you’re looking to sell, congrats!
There were plenty of ups and downs over the course of our search, and for us the fourth contract was the charm. I can’t recommend enough that you pay for any home inspection that’s available to you and that you find an incredible realtor.
Thankfully Tampa Bay has no shortage of them. We chose The Wilson Group’s Donna Knight and couldn’t have done it without her. She helped make the impossible a reality, all before our fifth anniversary to boot.
I always knew I’d call myself a husband, but not a homeowner. I’ve never been so thankful to have found not only the man of my dreams, but someone who helped me realize another dream I didn’t even know I had. I think I’ll start wearing my heart on our house.
While I’ve been focused on finding roots in Tampa Bay, LGBTQ travelers have been focused on the world around it. In this issue we focus on LGBTQ tourism as experts detail how to travel safely.
You don’t have to go far to get back out there with Pride, however. In news, Disney shares its latest LGBTQ-focused collection in Orlando and we also detail Tampa Pride 2021, which returns to Ybor May 22 with disco diva Martha Wash.
Finally, we celebrate the happily ever after of Watermark’s own Rick and Dylan Todd. The perfect pair for one another chose the perfect date to say “I do,” and we couldn’t be happier for them.
Watermark strives to bring you a variety of stories, your stories. Please stay safe, stay informed and enjoy this latest issue.
