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inspiredcreativity β My Partner and I
Published: 2008-09-13 08:37:33 +0000 UTC; Views: 7991; Favourites: 30; Downloads: 34
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This is my partner Greg and I on a boat. My partner is the good looking one on the left.We have been together for 21 YEARS and counting to 22.
AS TIME IS ETERNAL, SO IS OUR LOVE.
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Comments: 250
lovely really, i really hope to be able take a picture like this in the future. (and btw, the good looking one in my opinion is the on on the right 
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Thanks. As long as we are talking about cute, your picture is one of those "GASP" experiences. You are very handsome. Be sure to blush like you have never heard it before LOL. I am surprised you are single. I picture you in a club, like fresh meat in a shark feeding frenzy. Be sure to carry a shark stick to beat them off with.
I very much hope you too will find a lasting love. I took me two failed relationships first. I had to learn some things. I needed to care of guys, which was not a health way to have a relationship.
Greg and I have been together almost 19 years. We have had some very rough times and have had to make a lot of compromises for each other. It was worth all the effort. There is a deep comfort and feeling of safety that can develop over time. It feels really good to trust someone fully, to know you are loved and full accepted, despite all of your faults.
I wish you the very best that life and love can bring you.
Matthew
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Thank you. It is really kind of you to say.
I looked at your gallery and you have amazing pictures. i will leave some comments for sure.
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At least we don't have matching cloths. xd
It sure doesn't feel like almost 19 years togetherβtime flies. I took care of him in the beginning and now he is taking care of me. Hard times can tear you apart or bring you together tighter.
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You are so happy. 
Magic.
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The good-looking one (sitting) is my partner. Doesn't matter how old they get, love keeps them beautiful, and hot!
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In conclusion, i think you deserve it.
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Thank you so much. We are heading toward out 19th Anniversary. He is a Prince of a man.
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Your so welcome! Wow, that's a long time together! Have fun with your prince!
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well, no longer in that relationship myself, but we can always be better in life
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Thank you, that's really nice of you to say.
I'm sorry to here about your relationship. It took me two failures before it worked on this one. One was 5 years and one was 6 years. We hopefully learn how to do it better the next time. Boyfriends tend to happen when you least expect it.
I hope you are doing Ok.
Best of luck to you too.
Matthew
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yup, i think ure right. at least i hope so
i have a new boyfriend now. we have been 2gether for only one month but i hope everything will be great this time
thanks a lot again. be cool
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Congratulations on the new boyfriend.
Be Cool.
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So happy to meet your boyfriend also...Please sent my best wishes to him...Very lovely shot
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Thank you, I will be sure to pass it on. One of my best friends visited your country for a month during summer and picked it as his favorite so far, and he travels a lot. He said the people were very friendly.
How about you, do you have a boyfriend, are you looking, like single life?
Love your avatar, I believe I have seen its source. I am sure I have it somewhere on this computer.
Later,
Matthew
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I am living alone. And no hope to be a part of relation. Δ± am realy old enough to be loved and ugly enough to be chosen...
My avatar is also so important for me too..I love Hermes...Most of the time I want to be an invisible man, and he can be invisible in a moment if he wears his helmet and takes on his bots. Because they have some wings...Helped him to be fast and invisible...
Hope to see you soon
AYHAN
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It is true that the gay community is focused on youth, beauty, money, and power. But there are bound to be men in your age group becoming single and looking. Being lovable has nothing to do with age, but the older you get, the fewer guys will be available, but they ARE guys available.
Beauty is very subjective.
I have learned a lesson about human behavior. I have found that there are always people who will be attracted to people others consider ugly, deformed, disabled, and even ill. When I met my partner I was not physically attracted to him. I needed a dance partner for a lesson one night and asked him because I needed a dance partner. During the lesson, I was very taken by his personality, and how much I enjoyed his company. So, I asked him for a date. I was quickly falling in love with him, and as I did, he became beautiful and sexy to me, and still is.
The lesson learned is that my physical attraction to him came after getting to know him.
If you are invisible, how will you ever meet guys? Hope of love means getting out of your house or apartment. Typically, we all tend to scan a room and immediately eliminate all the guys who are not beautiful or sexy looking, and that means you can be missing Mr. right.
Another thing I have found is that if you are sad or depressed, others sense it and either avoid you, or exploit you. If you feel ugly, you will probably look uglier. Many Gay men are attracted to older men who are full of masculine energy. For me it was Sir Sean Connery, but only the older version. I did not find his younger years to be attractive.
Masculine energy comes from self confidence. You walk into a room, shoulders back, FEELING fully confident of yourself as a person, and having a high amount of self-worth. It is a personal power. When it comes to face-to-face beauty, the most important factor in chemistry is how good you feel about yourself, your self-confidence, which can make you shine.
There is hope. In fact, I had given up hope and started dancing just for fun, instead of looking for dates, when my partner fell into my life.
Don't give up hope and have courage to get out and to ask for dates.
All the best,
Matthew
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Soory about late response...First of all I have to say that English is not my main language so, sometimes my words can not express what I am thinking exactly, besides writing is not enough sometimes ( I think they create some emoticon to solve that problem and add some extra values to the meaning of it)
And try to say some about my feeling too...
It is not easy to have radical kind of relatons in a country like Turkey. And most of the gay guys are trying to find a rich old man just to earn money and give less...I am sure that every man has a homosexual side, but they can hide it easily...So most of the people are trying to stay away from such kind of relatons even if they want to...
You have to spent some time and energy to know somebody deeply! And younger men can only get disapponted but, loossing some time is a negatif parameter that decrease your chanse to find Mr. right. As I am geeting older, I am feeling that I had to have a human just to share my life. But it gets much harder after every each of my unsuccessfull attampt.Totally agree that" physical attraction to somebody came after getting to know him." It is a matter of time and you must be lucky enought to win and be successfull..
I am so honored by your warm complimets. Masculine behaviours comes my musculine energy maybe. I am also not so close to the poeple who acts like woman. And because of it I had many problems with the people who say they are straigth then they become a young girl when you take them into bedroom. I am respectfull with every kind of choise but I can never stand such behviours...Man must be like man ( personal idea! )
Another problem is; all of the people are thinking that gays are having sex, but they can not love anybody. Because a man can not fall in love with another...This is not true...
And finally when you get older than you become more selective. And it s not easy to decide to have an affair easily...
Even if those conditions are not well enough to live with but, I never stop trying. Allways carry a kind of hope to reach a happy end...My sorrow and sadness is still Δ± am not successfull
Hope Δ± can express my feeling clear enough 
Wish you bright days under theshelter of love and humanity
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What a wonderful photo and you're both so handsome.
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Thanks. We are a bit older and a bit more debonair now. I remember being in a lot of pain that day, being out and around. I learned to PUSH myself through the things I wanted to do. the problem is when you stop and lay down, then it is like the dam you made breaks open releasing the pent up pain.
I used to dance with a passion. It got me out of house, socializing, and most of all, having a good time. It was brutal most of the time, but endorphins are most powerful. Those latin dances with the cuban movement are killers. Toward the end, I would come home and throw-up from the pain, then I ran out of Push.
But, when one door closes, seek another to open.
Matthew
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I tried to see the pain in the photograph, but I couldn't. So I though that maybe you weren't in pain that day.
It's amazing that you danced as you did, despite the horrible pain. The human spirit....YOUR spirit.....
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Enjoyment and fun help to mask pain, like a distraction, kind of like it is there but you don't notice as much. the periods cannot be maintained for long periods. Then we use something chronic pain people call the "Rigor Mortis Smile". At the end of a night of socializing, your facial muscles actually hurt from maintaining it. lol
Spending time on the water with good friends and the love of my life, on a warm sunny day, should be enough to make anyone glow.
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You were glowing and the the whole photograph is glowing.
Emotional pain works the same way, I guess. When I feel blue, which is rare, I can lose myself outside photographing an insect.
Does it ever upset you when you see people who waste their lives or when you hear people complain about having it bad, when they really don't---especially compared to you, or do you understand?
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I have little "tolerance" for intellectual laziness, choosing not to think. I don't complain of others complaining about their lives, as long as they are doing something about it, or at least trying. We all have our own burdens, but they are relative to ourselves. Meaning that your problem may seem insignificant to me, but to you, it may be huge. It is not my right to put a value judgement on it. But if someone complains about something for years, and never tries to remedy the situation, or find solace or answers, I have a hard time being sympathetic
We all can and do get stuck sometimes, but once your eyes are opened to it, it is time to do something. I am an expert on depressing and suicide because I have been there twice in a big way, and circled the drain a few more times. I tried to kill myself when I was 13, and then again at 34. I had to bust out of a prison I had built as a child. The point is to keep moving, to keep seeking understanding and solutions. It is a journey with only one end. Getting stuck is not so good.
I was community nominated for a peer-to-peer counseling program for gay men and gay youth. I was told that a large number of guys had named me as a person they looked up to, and as a person they would feel comfortable with to talk about deeply personal issues. My response was that I did not even know anywhere near that many people, and the program sponsor said "yes, but they know you".
I used to go dancing a lot, and talked with many gay men and lesbians. It was starting to feel kind of strange. Why did people meet me, and 10 minutes later spill their hearts, telling secrets never told before. I later realized that the trust needed to let that happen was simply something people could sense.
It turns out that there were reasons for this. I listen with focus and intent. I am non-judgmental. I have a lot of empathy (too much so) and that can be sensed. I care, which can also be sensed. I give respect. I had suffered enough in life by then, had struggled to get loose of the past, abuse, depression, suicide, my brain disorders, my fears, emotional pain and physical pain, etc. I had struggled spiritually and with love and relationships, and had learned a lot along the way. So, I could understand their feelings. I NEVER told anyone what to do, or what they should do.
One thing I know for certain, is that we all have our burden and demons we carry. These burdens and demons act out and influence our lives in a million different ways. sometimes we and sometimes we don't, oblivious to those things inside of us.
Here is a secret. The more you connect with others and listen to their story, and share your own story, and help others, you yourself will grow greatly. In the journey to understand others, you also are on a journey to understand yourself.
Do you see how everything kind of takes care of itself after that? Please do not misunderstand. I admit I am one very screwed-up dude, but I have, all of my life, worked to improve myself and to understand myself and the universe. I am still screwed-up, but maybe not quite so bad. We human are always evolving and changing, life pushes and pulls us in different directions, the job is never done, we never really figure ourselves out.
Human emotions are massively powerful. So who should be in control? Most evil in life comes from hate, greed, and the lust for power over others. Those driven by these things are ultimately consumed by these things. How do we keep from becoming enslaved by these things? If an evil man, filled with hate, murders your son, and you spend the rest of your life hating the evil man, how different are you?
How do we have the majority of a nation justify torturing other human beings? They are controlled be fear and hate, ALL is justified with such things. So, should I hate all of those people who would torture and bomb? If I did, would I be any better? How upset can I get before getting lost?
This is how I found my way out of disgust for the human race. I believe in a circle made up of Understanding, Compassion, Forgiveness, Freedom, Tolerance, and the erasing of Hate. String the ends together in a circle.
Through Understanding people and their condition or malady, you can find Compassion for them; and through your Compassion, you can find Forgiveness; and through your Forgiveness, you will find FREEDOM; and freedom leads to Tolerance; and this great circle leads the the Erasing of Hate, the bane of humanity.
Forgiveness is NEVER about of CONDONING wrong doing. Forgiveness IS about letting go of anger, retribution, revenge, and hate. Forgiveness is about not continuing to be a victim. Forgiveness is about not letting the perpetrators continue to control your emotions.
A person who has lost a loved one to murder can loose the rest of their lives in bitter anger and hate for the perpetrators. Every time they think about the person who killed their loved one, it drives their negative emotions. It affects every aspect of their life, like a dark cloud hanging over their lives. Guess what, the perpetrator succeeded in ruining two lives, not just one.
Love is all about sharing. It is a two-way street, Talk and listen, give and receive, help and be helped, trust and be trusted, accept unconditionally, and be accepted unconditionally, love and be loved, understand and be understood, share moments of joy and laughter, give of ourselves and be able to receive the same. The KEY is in seeking BALANCE.
Codependency, something I am acutely familiar with, and something I been a part of most of my life, is given a bad name. All relationships are codependent. The problems occurs when codependency gets way out of balance, when one becomes defined by needing to be taken care of, and the other becomes defined by having to needing to take care of.
WOW, what a long answer to a question. Have we got there yet? Do I get upset and do I understand? Perhaps the answer is found above.
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Yes! That was a long answer! I'm sure you must know you're an amazing person. You could be a very inspiring public speaker, but I guess it would make your life harder and more painful, having to get here and there and all the rest that would be involved. Paragraph 5 is what I'm like. I love people who are non-judgmental, etc. Well, I could make many points and agree with many things, but you've stated it so well that I will leave it at that!
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Thank You. I am glad your ate a paragraph type 5 person lol. Being that way, you draw positive connections to your life. Unfortunately, it can get us hurt. I tend to be way too trusting. It is so easy to become jaded after getting hurt a lot, but if I let that happen, I close-off possibilities of connecting with good people.
I had a typo problem in one of my sentences in the last reply, it should have been:
The problems occurs when codependency gets way out of balance, when one becomes defined by "needing" to be taken care of by someone, and the other becomes defined by "needing" to take care of someone. In a healthy relationship, it should "want", not "need". The person being totally taken care of looses self-respect, self-confidence, and their dignity. Nobody can "fill" the emptiness in a person's life, it is too great a burden, and resentment builds and it no longer feels like "us". Eventually, it shatters relationships. We need to fill ourselves up, so that we can share of ourselves equally. When I was taking care of my X, I used taking care of him to fill the void in my life, and he used me to fill his void.
CHEERS
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Awwww... you guys are so cute together... My partner and I will be celebrating 10 years next April Fools Day... How's that for an anniversary... LOL...
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A big milestone. Congratulations to you both. Is all well in PARADISE, or are there singe marks here and there? Perfection not to be found, so don't bother looking too hard. Perhaps it is in their very imperfections we see that love is found so deep, unconditional that it is.
Matthew
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We are sooooooooo different my partner and I... he is an EXTREMELY literal math/science, nuts and bolts, football-loving creature... almost like a straight guy!... lol...
And me, well, an emotional, intuitive, mercurial, artist type who is always looking for the mysitcal or metaphorical... We used to fuss all the time... in fact he actually LIKES to fuss (which I loathe)...
But in some weird way it works... we sorta complete each other and he keeps me grounded (otherwise I would fly off into the stratosphere!) God has a sense of humor... He brought the two most different creatures on earth together!
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Weeell, I am a mix of both. I am an engineer and science guy. Machinist, welder, electrician, plumber (all certified), carpenter, firefighter, Lieutenant Commander USNR, blah, blah.
But I am also the mystical, emotional (as in a train wreck), empathic, touchy-feely, spiritual, counselor, artistic, blah, blah.
Greg is still very different. Not much emotion, keep away from me, I need space, "you animal, I'm not going to do that", dapper in a suit, genuine, and a gem. He is loyal and dependable.
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In the words of a famous funny song by a current humorous folk singer, you're a "Sensitve New Age Guy"... Go look that up on You Tube... I think the singer is Christine Lavin... I know I have the title right...
Greg sounds very much like my hubby...
Have a great day Matthew with two t's...
Hugs,
Merton
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Welcome, Matthew
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Your shirt certainly is. MY EYES ! Thank GOD I'm born in 1986.
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"I may not have good taste, but at least I taste good."
Tom Rogers (Charlie the Tuna)
HEY, those are pumas on my shirt, I got it in New Zealand. As a fashion statement, it transcends time. Surely anyone with taste can see that (LOL). I have pictures of me rock climbing in lime green and white plaid pants.
Just think, my parter and I have been together for almost all of your life.
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Yeah it can totally blow your social sense of fashion, I know.
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Actually, my partner edits what I where. I have a good color sense for complementary colors, but he always knows what it is and what is out, and how it is supposed to be done. He looks hot in a suite.
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Where's the mature content
Lovely
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No longer young and pretty like you, we are known as "mature" gentlemen (LOL).
Greg and I have been together for almost as long as you have been alive.
Squander not the sweetness of youth.
Matthew
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That's wonderful that U 2 are together so long
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It is wonderful. We have had to work for it, survive difficult times, resist temptations, and compromise, but it is all very much worth it. As my body becomes more and more crippled, Greg stays with me, and helps care for me. I hope you too find a lasting love, someone to share you life with. No rush.
I posted a picture of myself at about your age [link] . Back then, I was so innocent, I did not even know what Gay meant, or if there were others like me. All I knew was that I was different from other boys. It was obvious by the time I was about 12 years old. I knew I felt about boys the way I was supposed to feel about girls. I knew I was an abomination in the eyes of my Church and God. I knew almost nothing of sexuality. I felt so very ALONE.
It was a very different time them.
Thank you.
Matthew
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Pouberty is a hard time, but we survived
U didn't change much ^^
P.S: Well times are different now. And being gay is somehow "cool"- that's what people say
Bet U didn't predict that when U were younger
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Are you blind? Just kidding LOL. Thank you for the compliment.
I posted the photo for the great innocence of heart it represented. Yet in other ways of innocence, I was shattered by brutality and loneliness. My face hides it well, does it not? It is hard to believe that this teenager had already tried to kill himself, when on ten and three years of age, and still yet, dreamed of death. What I wouldn't give to spare another child this...
When I was old enough to start understanding the issues, I did believe in a time of freedom, tolerance, and acceptance, BUT I did not believe it would happen in my lifetime.
Even now, in parts of the United States, Gay kids are physically abused, harassed, and tormented, existing in an atmosphere of hate. It is simply a matter of where you live. Even now, Gay children as young as 14 years old are being thrown out of their homes, with nothing, for being being Gay. They become Street Kids, where their chances of survival are not good. They die of exposure, some are murdered, most have to trade their bodies (sex) for food and shelter, some die of untreated AIDS.
There are no government agencies who directly care for these kids. American's don't care about these "throw away children". There are some charities and shelters for the kids, but there will be 80 beds for 400 kids waiting.
There is still a long way to go here in America. I hope things are better where you live. Sorry if this sounds negative, but I feel someone needs to speak for the kids on the streets.
Thank you for the conversation. You are the best!
Matthew
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This is so cute it is almost disgusting (LOL). Just think, 18 years. After that much time, you either come to hate each other with a passion, or love each other with a passion. There is something that only time can build, something built on sharing and trust, giving a comfort beyond description.
Best wishes...
Matthew
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yeah true... ha best wishes to you too :]
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