I love my uber-friendly dentist’s
office. They are totally moderne and pain-free in every way. The
doctor loads up his iPod with cool tunes and docks it in his sound
system. He could have a show on a west coast public radio station
with his eclectic mix of rock, folk, blues and jazz. The
receptionist/scheduler looks like a pleasant straight church lady,
and probably is, but she gushes with pleasantries and stories when I
arrive. It almost doesn’t hurt to give her my credit card.
This visit, she told me about her
summer vacation. She and her husband planned to visit family back in
Ohio, but she had an intuition, a funny feeling that something would
go wrong. She didn’t know if the car would break down, or an
accident would happen. So she stayed home, caught up on house work
and tackled overdo projects. Midway through the staycation, the day
before the Fourth of July, she got a call from her mom. The family
had been without power for three days, the heat was killing them and
the neighborhood was flooded by the line of storms we all read about
in the news. She was bubbly with excitement about dodging that
bullet and enjoying her safe stay-at-home vacation.
The hygienist had not cancelled her
trip to the mountains of North Carolina and reported that the
temperature reached 111 degrees, hotter than home in Florida. Gosh, I
thought, it’s too bad there aren’t het vacation meccas for them
to enjoy. Of course, hets have the whole world to choose from, but my
gay superiority complex knows that we get the best vacations.
I’m thinking of the long weekend my
sweetheart and I just took up to Minneapolis. Well, not exactly the
city, which I had hoped to see, but we were at the Golden Crown
Literary Conference < goldencrown.org> and it was so
exhilarating I was happy right where I was. Where else can you go on
vacation to hang out with Jewelle Gomez, Ellen Hart, Lori Lake, K.G.
McGregor, Susan Meagher, Karen Kallmaker, Elizabeth Sims, Lynne Ames
and all sorts of other lesbian writers. Not to mention passionate
readers. And we got to dance, go to a fifties sock hop, pay homage
to one another and buy dyke books galore. The Doubletree by Hilton
staff treated us like we were the biggest show in town plus they
serve hot chocolate chip cookies on arrival—total seduction. It was
a do-it-yourself lesbian vacation mecca.
In the fall we’ll take our other week
and go to Provincetown. It’s Women’s Week for us. What’s to
do in Ptown? Be ourselves! While lesbians have come a long way (like
Bears, singles and gay families who each have their own week), there
would be nothing comfortable about flaunting our gender preferences
in Ohio or in North Carolina, where the non-gay voters don’t want
to share the institution of marriage with us. Of course, by
flaunting, I mean walking down the street arm in arm, gathering in
rowdy groups at the Post Office or Lobster Pot restaurants; laughing
ourselves silly at lesbian comedienne performances.
Heck, we’re so special, we even have
our own jewelry and clothing to flaunt. Guaranteed, I’ll buy at
least one item of rainbow clothing or an accessory. I’ll wear it
all week, then put it in a drawer for the rest of the year because
it’s not safe to display where I live. Next year I’ll forget to
bring it and buy something new: a rainbow baseball cap, a rainbow car
sticker, a rainbow t-shirt. To tell the truth I’ve learned, after
all these vacations, that it’s more sensible to buy a t-shirt from
Womancrafts—they sell a different classy design every year—and to
shop at the Human Rights Campaign store. I’m not afraid to wear
their products even to the dentist’s office.
Which, by the way, is one of the few
places around here I could wear them. The hygienist, with a sharp
instrument at my gums, had just confessed to being a Diet Coke
addict. I gabbled that my partner was too and the hygienist laughed
and said, “Oh, is she?” I’d plumb forgotten that I was out at
the dentist’s office and that they treat me like they do everyone
else.
But only because they don’t know our
summer vacations are better than theirs.
[Editor's Note: Lee Lynch is the author
of over 12 books. Her latest, Beggar
of Love, was called “Lee
Lynch's richest and most candid portrayals of lesbian life” by
Katherine V. Forrest. You can reach Lynch at
LeeLynch@ontopmag.com]
Copyright 2012 Lee Lynch