These posts or blogs, ( and this ones a long one, forgive me ) which you could call them, have been very interesting to write. To put stuff out there that has been rolling around in my mind. I know that some people find it uncomfortable that Im so revealing, but thats who I am... and I always try to add humor, and much of what I write, tho all true, my tongue is firmly planted in my cheek. I got a call from a man, who was my FIRST real friend from grade school. I grew up in a charming little town in CT. It had a church on the green, and a few farms still existed. We lived in a newly developed neighborhood, which was full of young families, whom all had kids, and my parents thought it would be the perfect place to bring up my sister and myself. And it was. Most of the kids were fun, and during the summer, almost every night we played this huge game of hide and seek as it was getting dark. We had a deep woods behind my house, that I loved, because there were old paths that led to dark secret places. i used to build little forts of tree branches and leaves. Every once in a while youd stumble upon an old abandoned tree house, deep, deep within the woods. And if I didnt mark may way to these places, sometimes I would never find them again. But it was my sanctuary from the madness I felt existed in my own home. My parents did the absolute best they could. But it felt like a house full of sadness and craziness all the same. And I know thats why to this day, I feel crazy in my head, and its hard to sort out my thoughts. Mainly when I get stressed. Trying to figure out whats real and unreal is hard for me to distinguish at times. I know acting and writing allows me to get all this stuff out. Every character Ive created over the last forty years has a great deal of myself in them. And if youve seen my work, my characters are out there. I also know thats why I prefer frothy musicals, especially when I was a lonely little boy or teenager, I was obsessed with shows such asGood News, Best Foot Forward and Babes In Arms . Id prefer them West Side Story or other Sondheim musicals ( which yes I think are brilliant, but I would forgo them, over hearing a recording of The Varsity Drag, rather than Children Will Listen or whatever he calls it ). These musical I mentioned, I grew up listening to, wishing I lived in their world where kids connected, had fun and were all friends. Silly and perhaps immature, but these shows were my escape. ANYWAY, getting back to my friend. I met him in 6th grade, actually we had known each other for most of my grade school life, but we were put in the same 6th grade class, and it was during this one day we were asked to work on a mural that was to be on the wall outside of our classroom. We suddenly just connected over the cartoon Johnny Quest! From then on we became inseparable. We watched The Wild, Wild West, ( for different reason I realize now. I watched to see Robert Conrad in his tight pants, sometimes shirtless get tied up. And he watched for the fights and brawls ) We went to Elvis Presley movies and James Bond. My parents adored him. He was the most All American boy in the world. Blond wholesome and I could make him laugh. He would just laugh and laugh. I didnt trust anyone. But one day at his house, we were hanging out, and he got a call from a neighbor, inviting him to go swimming his pool. He asked if I could come with him, and the boy said no, so my friend said then if Andy cant come, tI dont want to come. No one had ever done something like for me before. Theyd usually have ditched me. But that one thing made me trust him. . We lost touch, and it was all due to me. I came out at summer theatre camp when I was 16, a confusing time for me, and I wrote to him that we could no longer be friends, thinking if he ever found out I was gay, he wouldnt want me as a friend. My trust issues werent that strong I guess. And I never heard from him again. But I took his last name as my stage name, and later legally changed it to Halliday. I wanted him in my life someway. It wasnt till my father died in 1980, and he and his wife came to pay their respects. We connected, very slowly again after that. He now had four boys, was a policeman and lived in Jacksonville. But he wanted to keep in touch. I resisted for a while, but what Im FINALLY getting to is, suddenly last night we CLICKED! He said something and we both started laughing and laughing. And it was over something is stupid! I dont know about any of you, but in every friendship that Ive had, one thats lasted over the years, theres always one little incident, and it could be anything, that you and he or she just connect and the friendship begins on another level and it strengthens And thats what happened last night, after all these years, we were old friends again. And it was wonderful. He will be my friend, forever, the rest of my life I know that. And Im very, very lucky...
Posted on: Wed, 10 Dec 2014 11:06:41 +0000
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