@NurseDaddies Talk Gay Nurse Life Across Generations—From the U.S. to the Philippines (With Colton Lord and Glenn Dazo)

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Welcome everybody to the Nurse Converse podcast. My name is Colton.

This is Glenn, also known as Daddy Dazo of Nurse Daddies.

Slay. And yes, we are sharing a microphone. We have 2, but ran into some technical difficulties missing some cords. So, you know, we're just gonna share the microphone. It's gonna be okay, but we are here to do a special Episode emphasizing Pride, and that is why we are here. So yes, and also his chair is very squeaky, so I told him he has to stay still for the entire time that we're recording.

Can you imagine for an hour? And what, how long is this going to be? 45 minutes? An hour?

Not an hour and 45 minutes.

Okay, so okay, you guys, if I'm just like sitting like this, something's wrong with me. Somebody call 911 because, you know, Bright has nothing to do with me sitting like this and not moving.

Anyways, so we should start off this episode kind of how we started our last one. I think it's how we started our last one, but let's do our, our Diabla Spritz so we can be glowing for the girlies. Okay, are you ready? Okay, is that enough?

That's enough. Okay, my face, my hair, or my, my cap. It's all right.

Slay.

Oh, it feels so good. It smells so good. You guys should try this, the Alba spray. It's a white truffle serum. And oh, we should stop talking about them.

Oh my God. So salty.

Okay.

Anyways. Yeah. So here we are. We're doing a special Pride piece for the NurseConverse podcast. And we thought we'd kind of just talk about like our personal experiences with being gay and kind of when we take you through our personal journeys to coming out. Um, I mean, I think some people have like a big A big story of how they came out. Not everybody does. And I think ours is different as well. So we'll just kind of talk about that and touch on our experience in healthcare with being LGBTQ. So what do you think about that?

What do I think about being LGBTQ?

Yeah.

Tell us, kind of talk to us about, talk to us about your, your story to coming out. Did you have like this big coming out? Did you always know? Did your family always know? Was it accepted for you growing up? So just walk us through what it was to be Glen Dazzo in the Philippines as a flaming little gay boy?

Oh, well, I was closeted, but I think everybody knew that I was— I'm gay. I mean, growing up, I've always been very close with my mom. I'm always very feminine with my, my ways, and I normally don't go out and play with a lot of kids. So always— what it was very vividly, one summer we went to visit, um, my grandfather had a home in the middle island in Cebu. because we live in the south. And every summer we would go vacation at our ancestral home. But before we go to the place, we, from the port, we would stop at my uncle's place. And I remember vividly that my uncle was like, oh, here comes the— what did he call me? Not ladyboy. Girlboy.

Just why? Because like your mannerisms or the way you talk?

My mannerisms are just like, I'm just very slow.

How old were you at this point?

I think, um, I remember I was probably 10 or something. And then, but my dad obviously knew that, you know, your parents know what their kids are. And he was kind of protective, but not really, because I think he was also angry that he sensed that his firstborn male child is gonna turn gay. Because I figured, like, he figured that out as well. Like, you know, your parents know. what you are, then he would just like literally whisper to me and said, go sit with your mom. So that's why I kind of know, but I've always been, but there was not much because, um, I don't know why I wasn't really so in tune with my sexuality growing up, like in high school, because I was only there, I was very young. And then I went to university and then I was just like a young kid, not really.

Well, so, so when you were like growing up Like, were you the type of kid that was dating? Did you have girlfriends, boyfriends? Did you ever kiss a boy or a girl when you were younger, or was that something you just weren't doing?

Wasn't doing— I wasn't really doing it. We were so like— it's a different— it's part of our culture. I don't think that, you know, young kids— it's frowned upon when you go home and tell your parents, oh, I have a huge crush, unlike here.

I think it's like most of us don't say anything. We just— we are lying and acting like it's not happening.

But it's not even with girls. You probably would be telling your parents, you would go, I'm like, oh, I like this girl. Like, no, not even with girls. They would probably like, oh, what are you doing? You're such a little kid. You go to school. But you know what? I was in 4th grade. So 4th grade, probably 4th grade. I was probably 8. This new kid came. I still remember his name. In fact, I actually stalked him on Facebook. Oh, shoot.

Okay, how is he looking today?

He's looking not so cute.

Is he gay?

He has a family with some kids, and he lives— he still lives in our island, in our, in our province. We call it our province because, you know, it's a city now, but it's still smaller. We're still up in the mountains. And, um, his dark complexion, like dark skin, they've always— I think you see, that's why I know I really have like a thing for like dark skin, though my boyfriend now is fair-skinned, but He was so cute. He was the son of the principal.

Okay, wow. Yeah, I love that. Wait, so were you— but tell me, is there a moment in time when you like knew? Like, do you remember that? I always wonder if people remember. Was there a specific moment, and maybe you don't remember, where you were like, oh yeah, I am definitely more attracted to boys? Because maybe like at that young age, I don't think we all can rationalize that really what that means. But was there ever like a moment that you can remember where you're like, yeah, I'm definitely a little different. I don't feel what they're explaining to me towards girls, or no?

No, there wasn't. Like, for me, it was just he's new and we were friends, but I kind of like him. And then I really made sure that we were partners because one of our subjects— I don't know why we had to do gardening. It was part of home and economics. And we had to garden and then made sure that we shared the same plot of land that we were like gardening. I think we were planting tomatoes and cabbages. We call it pet chai.

You're like, wow, I really love the way that that boy plants those cabbages.

I don't even know. I just know for some reason, like, I just like to be paired with him. And then, you know, I became friends with his younger brother. And then his younger brother was asking me to write little love notes to this girl who was like in a grade, like in 5th grade when the younger brother was only 3rd grade. So it was just weird, but we became friends. But then the year after that, they left again. I think they transferred to a different school because their mom was like, yeah, I think she was just a transient principal. Like when there was like an opening, she would go. And then, because I went to church school, a school that's attached to the Seventh-day Adventist Church, and also being gay in that congregation or that kind of religion is taboo and they don't speak about it. Anyway.

I think that's common for, I mean, a lot of religions. So, okay.

But there was no coming out story for me. There isn't, because I think coming out stories are part of the white culture. It's so white, I feel.

I don't think that's true. I think, I think it depends. Maybe it's not so much Filipino, but that's not true because I know people of many different cultures who have stories of having to come out. I even actually know one comes to mind of a Filipino that I have talked to who was born and raised in the Philippines who had to have this coming out story. So I don't think that's totally true. I think everybody has their own, their own story, and maybe you just don't have that. So it was kind of when you got older, was it just with your family, with your friends? Was it just like this unspoken thing that you just never had to explain and people just eventually caught on? Or like, so you never had to like tell anybody? That's wild to me.

I had to tell one of my friends. It was really my good friend, but only like when we came to America, and this was like maybe 20 years ago. And I told him, and of course he probably just like You know, rolled his eyes and I'm like, duh. We all knew you were and you are. But no, it's not something that we speak about at home. No one ever asked me, my brothers, my siblings, and no one asked me. But there was one time, it was funny, we were— I was home for— this was some time in the past, maybe 10 years ago. I was home and we had a little gathering. I cooked for my family and one of my aunts came and she's like, oh, look at your other cousin. and my other cousin is a lesbian, but, you know, she's not doing well for whatever. She was just there, and I felt like, why are you like, you know, picking on her when, you know, I'm also gay but you're not picking on me? It's because I'm— I, you know, I support my family and I come from America and this girl just lives here. So I told her, and like, as soon as I told her I said my piece, she left. She's like, oh, I'm gonna go home, I have to take care of something at home, but, you know, she hasn't eaten dinner. But, you know, I think she got mad that I told her, like, don't do that, because you know what, that's, that's her identity as well. But you pick on her, but not, not with me, because I don't know what her reasons were. But so, yeah.

So growing up, did you have— was there anybody that modeled being part of this community? Was there anywhere that you saw that, even though maybe you weren't allowed to express yourself totally in that way, was there anybody that you were seeing that was openly gay? Or was that something you just didn't even see? Not even— because I think we I'm thinking back to when I was growing up, you know, you see it more commonly now, but I didn't even really see that on TV. So I'm curious if you saw these kinds of things as you were growing up, if you had anybody that modeled what it was like to be, you know, anywhere in the LGBTQ+ community.

No one. I didn't have to— I didn't have to look up to anyone because I feel like it's everywhere in the Philippines. I feel like it's not talked about, but it's kind of wildly accepted. There are like celebrities who are gay, and there's a lot of actors and you know, like you find in the movies that are, you know, they do roles that are typical of like being gay. But yet, I didn't really have to look up to anyone. I mean, my realization was when after I graduated college and I left home, I was in the capital city in Manila, and then I met this coworker and he kind of introduced me to the frivolities of being gay. That's when I knew that, yes, this is me, and then this is what I like, and then that's what happened. And then from then on, you know, I moved to a different part of the world, and that was it. And, you know, the rest is just now me.

Now you just walk in a room and it's not even a question. So yeah, I mean, I guess I can give a little backstory on, on mine.

So do you have a coming out story?

What's that?

You have a coming out story?

Yeah, I mean, I do. You know, there's actually a film called Coming Out Colton on Netflix, maybe Hulu, but it's Colton Underwood. You know, the guy that was on The Bachelor.

Oh, I don't watch The Bachelor.

I don't either, but I know who he is. Like, he— you don't, you don't know who Colton Underwood is?

No, I don't.

Who is that? He was, he was The Bachelor, and he—

What Bachelor? What season? I don't even know.

I don't know exactly what season, but he was The Bachelor, and he ended up, you know, like, getting— having a girlfriend, like, Somebody won the show, and soon after The Bachelor, they broke up. I don't know his whole story. I don't want to tell his whole story. There's— watch the film. But then shortly thereafter, and he had a really— like, there was points in the season where he was very emotional, and just, you could tell now in hindsight why. But yeah, after the show, or after he came out publicly, and then he ended up having like this film called Coming Out Colton, and it explains like his whole— journey from, you know, to be that big in the spotlight, be gay, but you're on this show where you're trying to find a woman for love. Like, that's, that's traumatizing. So it just talks about all that. Now he's married to, um, I can't remember his name, somebody in politics. Jordan. His name is Jordan. They have a baby.

Yeah. Wow, that's interesting. And all this time while he was in The Bachelor, he's hidden it so well that no one knew about it, to leave like a life that's like so just Well, what I think happens, and I like when you're in that, because for me personally, I remember like when I was younger, it was—

I was in such denial that I really had convinced myself that I was straight. And, you know, I have a very different story from you as far as, you know, there's some similarities. I grew up in a place where it was not accepted, um, a very small town. So it wasn't like I had anybody that modeled being gay. The one person that I knew who was gay Just, I will keep everything out for privacy purposes, but I knew him through, he did work kind of with my dad and my dad was friendly to him. But once we would leave, like, I just remember hearing things that were, you know, amongst my dad and his friends that were just not friendly things to say about gays. And so like, that was just what I had modeled to me and no, you know, no shade to, you know, my dad or my parents at all. Like I always say, they did the best that they could. That's also the information that they had at the time. So that's what I had modeled to me. So of course, I was very afraid. I had these feelings when I knew— I don't know the exact moment, but I was— the first time I think that I was like, wow, I'm very attracted to this was watching High School Musical with Zac Efron.

So you were in love. That was your first love?

Yeah, that was my first crush.

My first crush, like celebrity crush, my first one is, well, I have to say it's Richard Gomez. He's like, he's like a huge celebrity back home. And he was the model for this clothing line Bench. And he did like just this like tall, statuesque, and just, you know, like dark— not dark, but like olive-skinned, dashing, debonair. That was your boy. And yes, and he actually fenced. He was a fencer for the national team to compete in the Southeast Asian Games. And he also was a scholar. He was like growing. Yeah. So he was like, oh yeah. Now he's married to a He's now a politician. He's like a mayor of a small— not a small town, a town where my boyfriend is in the island, right?

Oh, interesting.

But also, I remember, you know, and now I remember when we were growing up, there's this baker who makes birthday cakes and wedding cakes, and I know his name. I, I don't have to say it, but they would always say— I'm like, oh, I think if my dad had made a reference to him, something like, why do you, why do you act like that? Like You look like this person, or like you act like this person, which is like, he's gay. Because I was also baking cakes.

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Those things stick with you. And when they're in like a negative connotation, it sticks with you. And as a kid, you internalize that however you do, and then You know, everybody responds to things very differently. And yeah, so then for me, you know, I, I actually, I like had girlfriends. I dated girls all through high school into college. And I never, I had just always suppressed that feeling that I had. And it wasn't until after college, I had never told a single soul in my life that I had any kind of attraction towards men, that I thought maybe I was gay. And it wasn't until my girlfriend that I had had through college Who was one of my very dear best friends growing up. She ended up, you know, we broke up and it kind of just like opened up this door for me to explore who I was and that, you know, kind of that avenue that I had never explored. And again, in hindsight, it's kind of scary because I didn't— I don't think I did it in like the safest way either because, you know, you're hiding who you are. So I'm like getting on these apps that aren't always the safest places to be and just like, I would just like meet random people and then I would meet them and delete the app because I didn't want anybody to like know I was on there, you know. And so that's, I mean, that's how I ended up meeting my husband at the time was through that app. And then once I had met him, we had dated for a while, and probably, probably like 3 months before I had told anybody. And it was, I first kind of told just like a couple of very trusted friends. And then it was like my sister, and then even months, months and months after that, wasn't for like a year that I was dating him that I ended up. telling my parents and I sent them a text message because I didn't want to know their reaction. I didn't want to see their faces. So I sent them a text message and said, hey, this is my boyfriend.

Yeah.

Yeah, this is my boyfriend. And just so you know, like, this is my life now. And thankfully my parents actually, they took it pretty well. And, you know, but it doesn't take away like all the, all the, all those traumatic years that I had to go through hiding that. Because if I, I feel like if I had come out earlier in my life when I was younger, it would've been a very different reaction from everybody in my life. And so that is my coming out story.

Nice. Like, very interesting. I thought in college, actually, I was attracted to these girls. In fact, we are actually— we remain friends and we're still best friends right now. Like, we vacationed together, we went to Hawaii together with her husband. But I was so attracted to her. But I think that the attraction then, I realize now as I'm older, the attraction wasn't really physical. her being a woman, but it's more of her phys— not her physical attributes, but just her emotional intelligence, you know, stuff like that. That's what I was attracted to her. And she was like, you know, she came from a nice family. Our family, my dad knows her family. And what's so funny, because I think I brought her one time to our, to our house, and my dad thought that I was like with her, but not really.

Yeah.

But, and then also, but I was really like, you know, I was so enamored, but to the point where I'm like, would I? But then everybody's like, oh no, no, I'm not, I don't. But then also another instance was a teacher that was my clinical instructor. Actually, I was— I liked her that really, like, I pers— kind of pursued her, but she didn't like me. She liked my best friend who I would go with, like, we would go hang out with her. And that was the best friend I told Like when I felt like, you know, I'm out, but really, like I told him, like, his name is John. I'm like, John, you know, I'm like, whatever. He probably knew already. But yeah.

Yeah. I mean, that's, I mean, that's, yeah, I think that's how it goes. Like, I mean, when I think about it, I was 24 when I came out publicly as gay. And that's, you know, that's a long time to live your life as being in this, in this body and in this life as somebody that you're not your true self. And so I think, you know, a lot of people, if there's anybody out there listening to this that may be dealing with the same kind of feelings and struggling with that. Um, my best, my best advice is to find safe people. And even if that's just one person, because the first time you say it out loud, I had never said the words out loud. And then the first time I said it out loud to somebody that had known me prior and they gave—

That you are gay?

Yes. Like when they gave me the response that was like, you're— that it wasn't, the world wasn't going to end after that. And once I told one person, or actually it was 2 people, 2 of my very best friends that I told. After we were obviously very intoxicated and they finally got it out of me. But I told them, and when I got a very loving response from them, it gave me the courage to then, you know, tell the next person and tell the next person until eventually I would be able to just announce it to everybody and then just be myself. So I think that that's a really important thing to touch on. Let's talk about being gay in the workforce. Has there— have you run into any Trouble, any issues, or like had any kind of— I mean, you've been at the same job for quite a while now, but have you ever felt any kind of like discrimination, whether that's from staff, the patients, management, or anything that has made you feel like your being gay has made somebody look at you as less than?

No, I didn't have— never had felt it that way, because I feel like when I came, there were already like, you know, obviously people of the same orientation as I am. So it's not new to them. I think it was new because there wasn't Any other Filipino who is gay that joined the workforce where we were, we're working now. But I felt very accepted and everybody just, you know, embraced me for all my, you know, my flaws and whatever that I have shared with them. So really it was a safe place. I've had some problems with patients when patients like just call you names, but with my coworkers, No, I don't think— I felt like I'm very much accepted for— you know, I wasn't hiding anything. I've— I came in like just how I am right now. So, and if you don't have anything to hide and then just yourself, then I think it was just pretty— I mean, you know, it was no issues at all.

I think that's what you're saying is, and this is not an easy thing to do by any means, but when you truly just show up as yourself, as you are, and just Leave it all out on the table and let people see you for that. There may be people who are uncomfortable with that, especially at first, but I think in the long run, people actually feel safe and trust you more because they know that what they're getting from you is who you truly are and that you're not trying to like hide anything about yourself. Again, it's way easier said than done. It's something that I feel like I still work on every day. Um, and I noticed this, like you're talking about working here in Boston, it is, it really does depend too on where you're living geographically, the facility that you're at. I mean, I came from Arizona, which it's not like Arizona is like way behind the times, but, you know, just, it's just different demographic of people and working at the hospital that I had worked at there, I had so many great friends, wasn't really the issue, but there wasn't really, there was a couple of us who were part of, you know, the community moving out to Boston, working where we work now. It's like everywhere, you know? Um, and it's, so it's nice to be in a place, working in a place that has representation of, of the LGBTQ community. And I think the same thing, I've never really felt discriminated against for like getting a job or anything in that sense. But I've definitely had patients use very, very vulgar terms towards me. And I'm sure you have too.

Oh.

And it's, it's, I noticed I, at first I was like very taken aback and it would offend me. But now I'm more just like, it's obviously a them problem. They're not getting what they want. And that, that is the only thing that they have to, you know, dig at you is to be like calling you very vulgar names that, you know, I'm not gonna say, but I think that that's why patients even act that way, or it's that, or they're very old.

But my— from my experience, it was really just very disheartening because this person was also part of the community. And I mean, for him to degrade me to a word that even— like, we are the same. But he applied—

Yeah, that doesn't make sense to me.

He later apologized that he was just very frustrated because he wasn't getting his pain medicine, and I think that was the issue. But I kept telling him like, you're not due for it right now. I'm gonna ask if we could give you another dose or this and that. And it's like called me the F word. And I just looked at him. I didn't even say anything. I just looked at him and I'm like, but you are as well, like just like me. Like, why do you do that to me? Yeah, but, um, I felt very safe. I mean, coming to where we are now, because if you really have to think about it, Massachusetts. I think was the first state that legalized gay marriage. So it's weird, we're kind of like in a safe haven, you know, we didn't have to worry about, you know, our sexuality or being exposed. And, you know, I just came just how I am. So it was all right.

Yeah, yeah. And again, I think that's really an important point to touch on for people who maybe are living in an area or working in a facility where they don't feel as safe. If you have the ability to go somewhere that has a higher representation. I think it's, it's, it's really helpful for you to one, just feel safe. And two, just like find your community, find your people, you know, places like San Diego or Boston or New York City or LA, Seattle. Like it's usually these bigger cities that, you know, you, when you're there, you can walk on the street and you can, you know, kiss your partner, hold their hand and nobody even thinks twice. That's one thing I love so much about, I think, New York City. It's Because no matter what you're doing, no, literally nobody pays attention to you. And it can be, I understand that it can be very hard to work in maybe more rural areas or somewhere where that's not as accepted. But yeah, if you, if you have the ability or the means to go out there and travel nurse or experience a new city, it's, it's amazing what you'll find when you go somewhere and immerse yourself in the culture. Because even once I'd come out as gay, even to this day, I've still never been to like, I've never been to a pride event.

I've, you know, I've been I just haven't been to a Pride event.

I just haven't. It just hasn't— no, because I mean, before—

that would be the goal for this year. We are going to Chicago. I already told you.

Yeah, Chicago Pride. I mean, we have options, really. I actually hear— I actually hear that— I mean, that Providence actually has a really good Pride event, but I want to go to New York Pride.

But okay, the schedule for the Pride events are simultaneously at the same weekend as New York and Chicago.

I know, so we have to choose.

So I think, well, for you to be— I'm not sure. Those are 2 major cities and they're very, very popular with their gay events.

I mean, I say, I say we have, you know, I mean, New York's obviously closer and easier for us to get to, but I've never been to Chicago. So, and I do, I need to have, I need to have my Pride cherry popped, girl.

God, how many cherries are we popping? Last 2 years ago, we popped your Broadway cherry. Yes.

And now I'm a Broadway girly. How many shows have we gone to?

I don't know. I think you've gone to 5 or 6 already, right?

I think more— I will say one thing of being Daddy Dazo's friend is I really have been more immersed in the culture because, I mean, how can you not when you're walking around with a walking gay billboard?

Um, I don't know how to take that.

I think it's a compliment.

No, it's a little offensive sometimes, but what— yes, because what else is this, right? Yeah, this is— yeah.

I'm sorry, bro. You're— I know you're a straight dude.

Dude, right?

Yeah, we should do the rest of the podcast talking like we're straight. Okay, go.

Yeah, dude, remember when you were like, you know, dating that girl? Yeah, bro.

Yeah, bro, I remember. She was so hot.

And yeah, I'm sweating. I'm sweating too. I can't even move in my chair because it would squeak. So I'm sweating.

I think it might be some of the caffeine too because I actually got into the spirits. I don't usually drink iced coffee, but all the gays do. So I made myself iced coffee. Really?

That's just the gays. Everybody drinks iced coffee, the girlies as well. Come on.

The gays and the girlies, they drink the iced coffee.

Yeah. Anyway, so whatever. What else are we going to talk about? So, okay, talk about your first relationship with— oh, this is interesting. I want to know, or the people would love to know, the NurseConverse universe, the world, the space needs to know what, who And when you came out of the closet, what was it like to be with a boy?

To be with a man, like versus a woman?

Yes, I know you already told me about what it is to be with a woman.

I don't want to share it with you guys because it's not this, it's not PG, okay? The details I shared are not PG, okay?

Oh, I'm like, oh, let's hear it.

Yeah, you know, it's very, it's very, I mean, it is very different. Yes, he's gonna share, okay, everyone listen It's very different to date a man versus a woman because you just, just like, I don't even know how to honestly put it all into words, but like the emotional, um, and this is like dependent on each person too, but men and women just process things differently. We all have different, different needs, different wants. And, and I think for me especially, going from being in a hetero relationship, you know, you assume the role of like the man and then when you When you start, when you date somebody of the same sex, it's like, you know, someone usually assumes the role of, of like the more like masculine and the other one assumes the role of like the more feminine. But—

Is that really what it is?

At first, because for me, especially like I had never been in that. So I was like, this is so weird. Like, what is my role here? As what I found as, as relationships progress, I think things can kind of Not necessarily like flop, but maybe more so like I got more comfortable with being just, just being myself in the sense of some days maybe I do like assume this more like, I don't even like the word like masculine feminine role. I just mean like in the rela— like in the dynamic, you know, depending on like if you're emotional or you're going through something like you, it's okay as a man to like then let your partner comfort you or, you know, those, those types of things versus like when you're in like a man woman. At least like how it used to be. I think things are getting a little bit better as we progress in the world. Like the man can't show their emotions and they can't allow like the woman to comfort them or, you know, like be the one who like makes the money. Again, I think it's 2025. Like these things are getting, things are shifting to where like women are, you know, the ones making more of the money while the, you know, men are staying home with the kids. But that for me was like the hardest was to like, what is my role in this relationship? And again, it's been I've almost, I've almost been a free bird out of my cage for, oh, it's been this, this month actually for like 5 years, 6 years, 6 years. Yeah.

6 years.

Yeah. So yeah, things, things have changed a lot. And just like the way that I see, you know, my role in, in a relationship.

Hmm. Okay.

Okay. That's just all you have to say. Just, okay. Okay.

I'm okay. I'm like, yeah. I don't know.

Are you stumped on that?

Not really, but you know, it's just, we all have different experiences. Like, I've never been in a lot of relationships myself. I've never been with a woman. I've, you know, again, I've told you I've liked women, but you know, nothing really came out of it. But I am in a long-distance relationship right now where there's not really clearly defined lines as to sexuality, as to why we're together. I think it's really just My boyfriend's thing is that, you know, I like you for who you are, and you don't need to label me.

I love—

I like that, which is kind of fluid. And I like it because he liked me for the person that I am, not for what, you know, my sexuality is. And, you know, that shouldn't define our relationship. Our relationship is just— And I like it that we're like long distance, because if you really have to think about it, I think about it, I have never been with a person Like intimate for however long we've been together, like officially 2020. All that time I was living alone, so I think it works for me.

No, I think I like that because I think what you're, what you're saying, like what you're proving is, you know, we don't have to— you don't have to be in these traditional relationships. You don't have to have the— you meet somebody, you get— you move in, you get married, you have kids, and you buy a house with a white picket fence. Like you're You're proving that you can, you can love somebody and you can, you can have your own spin on it to where it works for the both of you. And even though you are like thousands of miles apart, like it works, it works for you. And like, that's all that matters. As long as you're both getting your needs, wants fulfilled and you're both happy with it. Like it doesn't, it doesn't have to be this traditional way of living. And I think that's something that being in this community has shown me is again, with like these roles we assume from just traditional culture, you don't have to do it that way. Like you can't, you can rewrite it however it works for you.

Right.

Yeah, but I'm always met with trepidation and people asking me all these questions. I'm like, oh, he's just after this and that. I'm like, no, you don't, you don't get it. But you know what, we— there's— we probably, you know, unconventional because that's not what everybody does. That's not typical of what everybody does, but it— I'm trying to make it work and it's working. So—

Well, you define, you define that for yourself. And people, people are always going to talk. People always are going to have an opinion. And especially like, you know, as friends and loved ones, I always try to like have the mindset of They're coming from a place of love, even though it's very irritating at times, if they're giving you this input that maybe you don't want or you don't agree with. And at the end of the day, that's for you to decide, no matter what anybody tells you, that that's your— that's for you to decide on what's working for your relationship.

True words spoken. I don't have anything to say more. Okay. All right.

Well, I think that's a great place to kind of just end. Uh, we appreciate you guys coming to the NurseConverse podcast and hanging out with us for this special Pride episode, and I hope that you got some value out of this. And we will— I'm sure that we'll be back. We have actually some surprises up our sleeve. Maybe you'll see us on another podcast, I don't know.

Yeah, watch out, stay tuned, and follow our socials, Nurse Studies on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, and YouTube. And that's where we're at. And maybe from there you'll find out more. We'll post something if there's anything that's gonna come soon. And, you know, we'll stay tuned Our sugar babies.

Period. And maybe we'll see you at a Pride event.

Bye.

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