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Dating
I had never had any luck with dating.
The last few men I had been on dates with were meat-eaters.
Although I don't mind dating non-vegans, these guys
were especially bad. The last guy, John, had sausage
and eggs for breakfast, any kind of deli meat for lunch,
and steaks or sea food for every dinner. He constantly
mocked me for my lifestlye choices. He would take me
out to eat at steak houses where I couldn't even eat
the salads or potatoes. I would just sit there sucking
down water. In retrospect, I think he was trying to
get me to crumble and eat some of his garbage-food.
I couldn't even kiss him after awhile due to his breath.
After him I just gave up on dating all together.
A year and a half after I had broken
up with John, I received an email at work from an old
vegan friend. He had just started a new animal rights
group in the area and was holding a meeting that night.
I hadn't been active with animal rights for some time
so I decided to go. There were some old familiar faces,
but many more were new. At the meeting, we discussed
starting a student group at my college. I stood up and
said that I would appreciate any help from students
or people who had experience with college groups. That's
when he stood up: blond hair, hazel eyes, back-pack
at his side. Jake was from another college in the area
and already had a group so he wanted to help. We set
up a meeting later that week at a local vegan restaurant
to get started.
We met and it was great. We set up everything
for my college group. Jake had so many ideas and experience
with students, it was really helpful. Since I don't
have a car, he offered me a ride home. The animal rights
meetings were weekly, so he started giving me rides
home after each one.
One day he called me up. Jane Goodall
was coming to speak and he was wondering if I would
like to go hear her talk. We had such a terrific time
that evening. He took me to this excellent Indian restaurant
beforehand and we had front row seats. Jane Goodall
is an impressive speaker. She even recommended a vegetarian
lifestyle to the large crowd.
A few month's later we took a road trip
together to California. It was summer, the weather was
nice, and while we were in Los Angeles there was a day
of action against Burlington Coat Factory. We went in
with little slips of paper with our anti-fur message
and placed them in many of their fur trimmed coats'
pockets. It was fun and exciting. I would try on a coat,
and he would slip his arm around me and into a pocket!
During that Fall Semester, I only saw
him on weekends due to our different schools, but our
love still grew. Over winter break, it was another excursion
to California where we got arrested during a fur demonstration
at Neiman Marcus. Our picture was on the front page
of the metro section of a local paper. The two of us
in handcuffs, side-by-side, with dozens of police and
security around us. It was great!
Spring semester was much like fall,
but now it is summer again and I moved in with him.
We'll go to the same school this fall. Every day is
wonderful, and I love him more each day. We have a companion
rabbit that we found at my last school's campus. We
think it was abandoned. It is completely domestic so
we can't release it, but it is very sweet. Life is good.
Name Withheld
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