Capital Pride 2016

“At least we had Friday.” I thought as I woke up Saturday morning. For the first time, for as far back as I can remember, I had no plans, nothing, nada on my schedule.

Marcie and Jamie had previous plans and Kimberly wasn’t feeling well so instead of running the streets I decided I would stay in and do laundry. Still in between loads I checked Facebook and watched as all the other transgender girls made plans for the Capital Pride.

They were getting a room and had plans to watch the parade from the comfort of a well-stocked hotel room along with a little party of their own.

Parades never really interested me much and truth-be-told I was not all that familiar with some of the other girls in the community so with a sigh I put down my cellphone and put another load in the washer.

“Why don’t you just go?” Kimberly asked when she noticed me flopping back down on the bed.

“Na, sometimes I get the feeling I am not always welcome in that group.” I answered as I turned my cellphone back on. “They have their little click, yea I know they never said it and it’s probably my imagination but it’s the way I feel.” I said with another sigh. “Doesn’t matter, I think Marcie and Jamie is meeting up with us for the festival tomorrow. I might as well rest up tonight for the fun tomorrow.”

And that was exactly what I did, rest and nap and laundry and nap and I repeated the cycle over and over again until it was finally the granddaddy of the LGBT events was finally here.

And I dressed sensible for what was expected to be a hot and humid day but nothing could have prepared me for the pure, hell-like temperatures that was instore for us. I mean, as soon as we stepped out of the car I could relate to the feeling of my face being blasted with the wafting, maelstrom that would often be associated from an open oven door that had been set on broil.

To be honest I was ready to wrap it up and head back home if it weren’t for the fact I had promised a few people that I would stop by their booth and say hello. No exaggeration here, by the time I made it from the car to the entrance to the festival my face was bright red and my hair was soaked from sweat.

“We really need to find some sunscreen if we are going to stay.” I could hear the desperation in Kimberly’s voice as she spoke.

“You don’t have to stay, this is miserable. I mean why do they always schedule this in the worst part of summer? I replied, probably sounding a little disappointed.

But she was a trouper. Somehow we managed to make our rounds and pick up a bunch of stuff we would never see or use before we called it a day, long before Marcie and Jamie ever made it there.

We were almost out of DC and back in Maryland when Marcie finally called. “We are one stop away, where are you at?” She asked.

“We couldn’t do it Marcie, I fried myself just making one lap around the street. You two will have to go one without me this time.” I responded.

And yea, if I had not already known that they were going to come over to the house after the festival I would have been much more disappointed.

Disappointment would be sort of an understatement. For six straight months I had seen Marcie at least once during the weekend, for six straight months I always got my Marcie fix to help me get through the regular work week. To be honest if I thought there was a chance I wouldn’t see her I would have turned back around and suffered through the heat

Instead I went home and collapsed on the bed, I was asleep in minutes; it was probably more from heat frustration than it was from me being tired.

And I slept hard, that is until my phone rang.

“Kendra? Jamie is a little motion sick from the metro, I don’t think we will be coming over tonight.”

Okay so Kenneth would have felt, well cheated, felt self-pity, he would have pouted.

But Kendra, well she was genuinely concerned about how Jamie was doing. “Poor thing.” I responded, “You better get her home and take care of her.”

“I will, it is a shame we couldn’t stay at Capitol Pride longer than we did but you were right, it was way too hot.”

So I watched as both Saturday and Sunday slipped away without my Marcie fix. I realized that at that point the weekend was about a million miles away but even so, I made a mental note to call Jamie the next day to find out how she was doing.

#Pride #Marcie #Jamie #Kimberly