I am an old guy.  I buried my sexuality really deep into the shadows of my life and determined to never allow them the chance to see the light of day. Big mistake. All these years later I am finally coming out of the closet. Remarkably, it took me 68 years to finally get to this point. If there is any advice I can share it would be to move on with your true identity in life. Don’t worry about what family, friends or the church think of you. You can’t hide forever and look at all the life you are missing out on!

Last year I was fortunate to attend the Affirmation conference in SLC, Utah. It was a remarkable experience for me.  I sobbed. There were so many mature and sage men just like me that were there.  We shared our stories and refilled our fuel tanks.  I will never miss another Affirmation conference.

My coming out story is simple. After finding the courage to do it, I walked into the living room where my wife was sitting and sat next to her. With tears streaming down my cheeks I held her hand and looked into her soft blue eyes.  We have been married for 38 years and we’ve been through a lot together. I blurted the words “honey, I am a homosexual.” Those soft blue eyes welled with tears and as she grabbed both of my hands she showed me a love that I have never felt before in my life. After we processed the situation we have talked about the new revelation.  She admitted to me that she felt like she had already known I was gay.  I couldn’t imagine how she knew.  She simply said, “dear, I felt it years and years ago.” That was it.  She already knew I was gay but continued to love me all these years later.

I don’t know how many older men follow these Stories, but coming out was not the disaster that I thought it would be.  Our wives are resilient and love us, often more than we love ourselves.  To the younger men and women here, don’t wait.  Don’t waste your life wondering what could have been.

We want to hear your story–here’s how to share it with us!

Each Sunday we feature a new Coming Out Story on the Latter Gay Stories blog. Coming Out is an important process that is different for everyone; some experiences are difficult to hear while others are heart-warming and inspiring. Still, coming out is never easy and more often than not we draw inspiration from others through their stories. We rely on weekly submissions to keep the Coming Out Stories alive. We invite you to share yours now.

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