Book Club!

It was 95 degrees in Orange County today! My husband came home to find me making dinner in a pair of briefs. We have the house to ourselves again since his mom went back to Houston. My dad has learned to not walk into the house without calling first unless my husband's family is in town and he knows we will be modest. My dad is very comfortable with our affection though we don't overdo it in front of him. His only comment has ever been "You two are very much in love. That is a good thing." 

Normally my husband controls the air conditioning from his app, but his app hasn't been communicating with the unit very well lately so I don't get the normal arctic chill telling me he will arrive home soon. He sets it at 78-79 before he leaves for work in the morning (my preferred temperature) and then adjusts it down to a chilly 69 when he comes home. 

His mom went home late last week. I miss her already. She is quickly adjusting to American life. The head covering is gone and she is wearing tops that show off her ample chest. She has her hair all pretty and lots of makeup. My husband HATES it. He says my father has lost control of her. He wants her back in the covered up modesty he is used to; the shapeless blob of mother he is comfortable with. 

I remind him that he came to this county to be himself, so maybe she did too. It was surprising at first, but then I realized something...

After all that dread and doom he predicted when deciding to come out to his parents, they were actually not that upset by it. They have welcomed and loved me like I was their own child. Maybe they are a lot more liberal than he gives them credit for. Maybe this sudden expression of vamp that has splashed across his mother is just another token that they are not the stoic pillars of islamic piety he built them into. 

His mom has boobs. His dad is cool with her wearing something that alerts others to this fact. My dad paid much more attention to her this time. It was cute. We found them laughing together in the kitchen. My husband growled that noise in his chest that he gets when some man is paying attention to me. 

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We stopped into a bookstore so my guy could get a giant coffee last week and they had this HUGE pride section setup!! I was so excited. I never beg to spend money, but when I saw all the new releases in gay fiction, I had to have!! I got six books. He is always urging me to buy things and I rarely do so he got excited at how happy I was. I have devoured two of them. I'll start the third soon. I like how you can read a book and then go on social media and find thousands of posts and fan art and discussion. It's a giant, anonymous book club. 

He likes finding me reading silently in his big chair when he comes home. It means I am peaceful and not staring at a screen. 

We Contain Multitudes was super heavy! Violence and deep, angry sadness. I didn't grow up like that. I was never expected to "be a man" or toughen up. I was never really bullied. I was too quiet and our teachers were uber on the lookout for troubled kids. If anyone even hinted at bullying things ground to a halt and we had to get in the circle of justice and discuss things... California.... 

It cracks me up how people on instagram have to pose a book. Like "Oh look! I was sitting here at my vintage table made from old railroad ties while enjoying my book. I always cut fresh flowers before I read! It sets the mood. Oh and excuse the vintage keys in the picture, my bisexual neighbor Jernathun left them for me before he headed back to Silverlake!" 

This one is from Autoboyography. Tanner and Sebastian! Swoon! This book made me cry so hard. I was so Tanner and my husband was a muslim form of Sebastian. There were so many little parts to this book that made me go UGH! YES! Furrrk!

The thing about reading is how it changes my writing style. That might show up in the next chapter of Ahmed if I ever finish it!! I am over halfway through with it, but it's slow going, but it's going, but slowly, but going... going... 

Next book to read: