Our Summer Island 2025 never quite achieved the expectations that I had in my mind, and there was really no way it could, as much as I tried to tamp them down. It was the summer that I turned fifty, the summer that I celebrated twenty-five years with Andy, and the summer that was filled with other various anniversaries and dramas (the most major of which I had little to do with). After twenty years, The Divine Diva Tour: A Fairy’s Tale finally got posted for all the world to ignore, and formed the bulk of our weekend posts.
Originally, I’d thought that the twins and family would be over visiting the pool and treating our home like a summer island oasis, but after the initial Island Party, they didn’t respond or have time to visit, so Andy and I hosted friends and enjoyed the outside by ourselves. They were also dealing with other issues, but that’s a darker story more fitted for fall and further rumination before I decide to tell it.
Happily, there were other summer diversions to be had, and an opportunity for shifting how family occupies my mind and existence, as well as how our good friends become our family over the years. It’s a common occurrence for many LGBT+ people, this way we forge our own family units out of necessity, and it’s both heartbreaking and beautiful how it has to happen. This summer we celebrate the friends who got us through it, the sunny days that went on and on after a slow beginning, and the little island we created, even if it wasn’t how we originally envisioned it.
JUNE 2025: The month it always begins – summer laid out in its entirety before us – all promise and hope and happiness – and all impossible to live up to after a winter of wishing and envisioning.
Our summer island theme was chosen by Emi deep in the bowels of winter, so we began in a tropical vibe.
Keeping cool was a natural start to this June.
Leaning into the way of life that believes everything little thing is gonna be all right.
A Pedro Pascal appreciation post.
Everybody move, everbody groove!
Try some, eat this – the summer boat dip.
JULY 2025: Whispers of retirement carried on the summer wind, for if I were to break down my state career into a seasonal timeframe, I am just about entering the winter of that journey.
A Brian Sims appreciation post.
Pink ponies, pink tacos and putts – our 2025 BroSox Adventure was a dizzying doozy helmed by the usual hilarious antics of my dear friend Skip. This one marked our tenth anniversary of these adventures – another milestone in this summer of milestones .
Making a tidal trip to Provincetown in mind only.
A Tom Daley appreciation post.
A 30th friendship reunion is a glorious way to spend a summer weekend.
The Summer Island Playlist, more or less.
Twenty-five years ago I met the man I would marry. In many ways, it feels like only yesterday… but that quarter-century of life is massive and meaningful.
Pacific Chill by Louis Vuitton was the main summer frag, courtesy of Andy.
AUGUST 2025: The month and year in which I turned fifty fucking years old. {Pause for a moment of silence.}
While it’s been two years since Dad departed this world, I still feel him around us.
A weekend of Virgos healing and grooving.
A shirtless male celebrity round-up.
The great, and likely-unintended, gay anthem.
A tiny tribute to the Ilagan twins.
Bad Bunny got naked on a water-ski.
On the eve of a half-century of life.
A letter on the occasion of a 50th birthday.
Chris Evans in a jockstrap was the summer content everyone needed.
SEPTEMBER 2025: We never give September the summer glory it’s due. The majority of this month is still summer, but we forget that when school begins and Labor Day ends. This one began in mindful territory.
A Boston birthday gets immortalized in blog form, as we looked back on a fun and fancy weekend wherein we spent a night at Raffles.
The author of this blog at 50.
The willpower to exist outside the realm of opulence.
What would have been Dad’s 95th birthday.
Learning a little from my nephew.
A summer weekend in Boston with the bestie.
In the end it was the summer of 2005 that stole the spotlight, thanks to the online premiere of The Divine Diva Tour: A Fairy’s Tale. With all of this looking back, I’m looking forward mostly to a new fall. Farewell, summer of 2025.
