Eventually

Our meetings in coffee shops lead to getting to know each other, which lead to meetings in a more discrete setting. 

Once again, I remember being very nervous, and taking several precautions to ensure my safety. I remember almost getting sick to my stomach with nerves. Always a bit awkward, and this seemed like a big step. At least that was what I had heard. I grew up with an taste for adventure and had seen from early on the beauty that is present when the words drift away mid-sentence and clothes are fall to the ground, one by one like autumn leaves. My heart has always yearned for the strong shiver of shared passion. 

The story went that in some quasi-magical way, I was about to step into another world. Accepting financial compensation for my time, my physical presence was one thing, but that day, I knew I would want more. I was ready to pass that threshold. 

I did.

What happened, of course, belongs to private memories only.

Returning home, I actually did feel different, in the way any being feels different when they're truly, entirely satisfied. I felt the envelope curled up against my beating heart, the back of my mind purring. I realized that as I had suspected, this life choice was right in line with what my beliefs for myself and others were - 

Namely, that we all have choice and responsibility when it comes to how and when we interact with people. Also, we all deserve to be seen in our entirety, and appreciated - even (and some times, especially even more so) if that moment lives in our own little secret garden.

At that time, I also ventured out and took two other lovers, very unique in their own special ways. For a few weeks, I had a handful of adventures, then, stopped.

Back then I did not have the same social network, the collection of gold-hearted peers that I do now. I also didn't yet have the resources nor any form of handle upon the logistics of the situation. I knew nothing about ads, nor about making a space welcoming to host in.

I knew nothing but that I liked it.

I closed the door on this part of me for a few years, thinking back on it sweetly from time to time. It was a few years before I decided to apply for an agency. With more life experience to draw from, I felt I had something to offer as a companion, and there seemed to be more and more demand for a popular encounter - something called the girlfriend experience.

I'm all about experimentation - One evening, my shaking voice booked an in-person interview in an Irish Pub for the next evening. 

Yes.

An Irish Pub.

I arrived not knowing if I was over- or under-dressed, not knowing at all who I was looking for, and preparing to get arrested or something.

Turns out the owner of the agency walked me through their vision of meetings - abbreviations, as well as who I'd be paired up with in order to learn the ropes. Through that agency, I had the pleasure of learning about advertising, and to learn the lesson that a futon is a questionable furniture choice if you're hosting.

After two weeks of waiting around to meet people I didn't vet myself, and being charged for a broken futon, I reached out to a friend who took the occasional independent meeting.

We coordinated renting a place, she recommended different photographers in order to get pictures taken for ads, and before I knew it, there I was.

As I heard the very first knock on that door, I smiled.