Originally Posted by
mistercarter2u
I was 5 years old. My mother's sister ran a small record store in our hometown, and she often received promotional copies of new or soon to be released albums. She received a copy of The Supremes' "Where Did Our Love Go" album a few weeks before it hit the stores, and as she often did with promo copies of music she liked, she took it home with her. I spent every Wednesday afternoon with my aunt at her home, and it was there that I discovered that promo copy of "WDOLG." I remember sitting on the floor in front of my aunt's big old console stereo and playing that record over and over, all afternoon each Wednesday as I visited her. Finally, after about two months, she gave the album to me, and I was hooked from then on.... No looking back! A bonafide Supremes fanatic then and eversince!
A year or so later, I was in my mother's bedroom [[where her record player was located), listening to "Back In My Arms Again." I decided I wanted to BE Mary Wilson, so I wrapped a towel around my head [[my hair!), adorned my mom's bathrobe [[my dress), and grabbed my microphone [[my mom's hairbrush). I was dancing and singing along to my Supremes' 45 when my mom came in. She looked a little stunned at first to see her little boy like that, but she just played it off. She said "Honey, are you pretending to be Diana Ross?" In disgust, I glared at her and said "NO, MOTHER! I am MARY WILSON, the pretty one!" My mom laughed and left the room. [[No offense to Ms. Ross now!)
Years later as I was coming out as a gay man and my mom was struggling with the issue, we were having a very heartfelt and emotional discussion. Suddenly, my mom said "Honey, do you remember when you were a little boy and I walked in on you pretending to be Mary Wilson?" I said I did, and my dear sweet mother reached out, took my hand, and said "I should have known you were gay then!" We had a good laugh about it and moved on.
Years later, I did get to meet Ms. Wilson on several occasions, and I have shared my story with her.
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