SaintBear.org

Tom Watts
My Partner in Life

Where does one start to talk about the one they love? I guess the best place might be the beginning.

It was the first cold and lonely Saturday night in September of 2000. I was at the Chain Drive (the Chain Drive is Austin's attempt at a "Levi & Leather" Bar, but in all actualities, it is really just a bear bar) with my friends Bernie and Mark. As I was playing pool with Mark, I saw from across the room a very cute young man with no hair and wonderfully beautiful eyes and smile. He was wearing a red t-shirt that said "Enjoy Coke" on it. I could not believe how stunning his eyes were. I pointed him out to Bernie and Mark. Neither of them could figure out whom I was talking about, so I used my "boy magnet" in my pocket to point him out. My "boy magnet" is a laser pointer key chain that I always carry with me. This cute guy saw the pointer and saw that I was pointing it at him. We made eye contact and I thought that he had just as much interest in me as I did in him. I did the usual practice of circling him in the bar- trying to be coy and show him I was interested without actually going up and introducing myself. Every time I got the nerve to say something to him, someone else came up and started talking to him. It was about midnight and I had given up on talking to him. I was very disappointed and I left.

That following Thursday night, I had just finished playing pool with my friends at Charlie's and was heading home. When I was about to get onto the freeway, I decided that I'd go ahead and stop into my favorite local bar- The Chain Drive. I stopped in and ran into my friend Steve Klinger. During the middle of my conversation with Steve, the cute boy from the past Saturday night came up and hugged Steve. I waited anxiously for Steve to introduce me to this guy. Steve was quite slow in doing this, so the young man said "Hi, I'm Tom." I told him "Hello" and let him know my name. Tom and I spent the next 5 hours talking on the back patio and then outside the bar at our cars after Chain Drive closed. We made arrangements to call each other and potentially go out on a date the following Saturday night.

I talked to Tom on Saturday afternoon and we decided he would come over to my place and I would drive us on our night out on the town. We first went to Rainbow Cattle Company. Tom said he liked going there and that he liked country and western music. For some reason, I had expected him to know how to two-step. Unfortunately, he did not, but we ended up talking some more and I was able to introduce him to several of my friends from church (MCC-Austin) and from around Austin while we were at the bar.

We became bored with Rainbow Cattle Company, so we wandered over to the Chain Drive. We spent some time there talking and hugging and proceeded to go eat at the IHOP just around the corner from Chain Drive. We stayed up eating and talking until about 5 am. We had a wonderfully spectacular night. I asked Tom if he was interested in joining me at church the next day. He said he was interested, but had to work. He asked for a rain check for church and a date for Sunday night. The following Monday night was the last time that Tom and I did not spend some time with each other until December 23^rd to December 27^th as Tom had to go to Pittsburgh to be with his family for Christmas.

Tom finally ended up going to church after MCC-Austin had its Annual Awards Dinner in October. Tom attended the very first function inside the new church building. Tom had actually assisted Mark, Bernie, and myself in completing the award plaques the previous Wednesday night. Tom’s first service was the following week. That day was a huge day for Tom and I.

Tom’s first day to attend MCC-Austin coincided with AIDS Walk of Austin. I was the team captain and organizer for MCC and was very anxious about doing a good job this year. In preparation for having our team members fed and ready to walk before the early start time, we had decided to make sack lunches for the team members. Tom did a fantastic job in helping me get the sack lunches prepared before service. Tom had been scheduled to work that day, but as the day progressed, Tom got caught up with everything and ended up calling off work to participate in his first “activist” program. Tom walked side by side with me in the AIDS walk and even helped carry the church’s banner.

But I need to transgress and tell you that Tom had a wonderfully moving experience at service that morning. Tom fell in love with MCC- Austin. So much in fact, that he decided that he needed to arrange his work schedule so that he would not miss another Sunday service.

At Thanksgiving last year (November 2000), my mom came down from Dallas to visit me and to meet this wonderfully fantastic guy that I couldn’t stop talking about. Mom absolutely adores Tom. He was polite and caring to my mom. We went to see How the Grinch Stole Christmas with Mark and Bernie while she was here. We ended up having to wait an hour to see the next showing as it was sold out at two of the theaters three screens. Tom spent that time talking and sharing his life and ideas with my mom while they sat on a bench close to the door of the theater we were going to be seeing the movie in. (Mark, Bernie, and I had to wait in the line up near the concessions to keep our seats/ ensure we had seats.) When my mom left, she said some very wonderful words to Tom. She said that she loved him because I loved him, but she fell in love with him after seeing how much he truly cared for me and I cared for him. She told him to take care of me for her.

On Valentines’ weekend this year (February 2001), Tom and I made a trip to Dallas to see my mom and family. We went to Dallas so that Tom could meet my grandmother, aunt and uncle who were visiting my mom in Dallas. Here is a picture of Tom and I in my truck on our way back home. We got a new digital camera that weekend and Tom wanted to play with it on our way back home. We had it with us the entire time we were in Dallas, but we only decided and remembered to pull it out and use it when we were driving back home. (See how bored I was with his picture taking?)

I’m going to post a few pictures of Tom here below. I know he’s going to kill me for it, but that is what the one you love is supposed to do to the other, right?

If you think you want to talk to Tom or me or about our life or if you have information or comments, please email us! We are always looking to meet and interact with new people.