Twenty-Twenty-Dee in Review

I’m a week late, but looking back at Twenty-Twenty-Dee gives me a good excuse to re-post my favorite pictures of the year. Me narcissistic? Who wants to know?

My year had a certain symmetry; I started the New Year with Michelle, closing our favorite bar Hemingway’s (RIP), and ended my outings for 2023 at another one of Michelle’s favorite bars, celebrating her birthday a day late. In between, we went shopping (one time with Ms. Dee-ism, her first time out with Dee, after knowing boy me for over 30 years), met with her (real) accountant three times, a couple of glam nights out, a day at Pride, Hallow-Dee-n, plus just some normal gatherings. 

By my count, I went out 63 times in 2023, or nine weeks worth (63 times would be in about three months for Kan-Dee). 

Some highlights…..

1. Two Dee trips.  The first was to the Raleigh/Durham area to visit my GG friend Renee and her husband John. Renee and I met in the mid-1980s and she helped me dress back then, and has been probably Dee’s biggest fan since we reconnected via Facebook a few years ago. For some crazy reason, she loves (loves, loves) seeing me dressed. Flew there and back dressed, and other than a couple of runs, spent all four days dressed. The highlight was seeing The Boss “dressed to the nines” with John.

The second trip was to Sin City for Dee-Va Las Vegas. This trip was door-to-door Dee, flying, eating, drinking, dancing, Top Golfing, Pickleballing, limoing, and meeting other Divas. I got to wear some fun dresses, get some compliments and pool time.

2. Besides Vegas and the Raleigh area, I added another city, Phoenix, to my list of places out. I had a couple of free days around a wedding that I took advantage of. 

3. Speaking of pools, I had eight days of pool or beach time in my bikini or swimsuits. I’ve become a lot more comfortable trying to be a beach babe, and hope to do it again in 2024 (and recently Michelle says she gets envious when she sees pictures of me in a bikini at the beach, so I now have more motivation).

4. My most frequent destination, besides stores, was probably casinos. I went to the Crown Casino in Melbourne twice, and other casinos six or seven times. As I have written, casinos are always open, they have adult beverages (and often complimentary soft drinks), and distractions to kill time (I don’t bet much, so I just about broke even).

5. I saw three concerts (The Boss, The New Pornographers, and Al Stewart), and one musical (Some Like It Hot).

But the true highlight was time spent with others, from Renee and John in Durham, Divas Joyce, Trish, Megan, Treena (and others), and my local friends, Michelle, Ms. Dee-ism, and Karla. Also, the unexpected pleasure of others coming to talk to me, like Katie at Hemingway’s or Justine and her mom “Crash” at Hallow-Dee-n, or those who paid me compliments during the year, such as the lovely woman who walked up to me at the Raleigh Airport and said softly “you look very nice”. Those memories–and the validation–linger on.

Hope to make more memories in 2024.

Here are a few of Dee’s memories from the year past!