17
Ryan
Christmas was a few days away, and even though I had yet to go shopping, I knew exactly what I needed to pick up. We’d been with Lily and Stanley since Thanksgiving, and I had a good grasp on the perfect gift for them.
Before we set out on our road trip, I decided for Christmas I would give Russell a digital photo album of our trip. He seemed to love having pictures of us, and I didn’t always give him many opportunities to get pictures, so I thought this would be a great gift. It was something he didn’t have and couldn’t buy. I had been taking tons of pictures with my phone, so I’d have plenty to choose from.
I found a photo and memories place online that had lots of templates to choose from. There were road trip themes, holiday themes, and everything else someone could imagine. But this was Russell, and I found a “classy modern” theme made up of monochrome hues.
I had been compiling the pictures onto the virtual pages over the past two days and thought I was well ahead of this game. But as I was going through the checkout process, a prompt came up asking if I wanted to make it into an actual memory book.
“Mayyybe,” I whispered. I was hiding out in the bathroom finalizing my gift purchase.
I poked the “yes” link and found out I could make a memory book identical to the digital album. All I had to do was select the book size. This seemed easy.
“Wait, how long will it take to get?” I whispered as I skimmed the page for shipping time frames.
As it turned out, several drugstore pharmacies and stores in Indianapolis had pick-up options. So I could order it online and then select a store from their list and pick it up. Another damn prompt came up asking if I wanted to purchase any prints. At first, I had been annoyed with all the prompts. Didn’t they know I was a last-minute guy for gifts, and I needed all my options up front and at once?
My initial gift idea for Lily and Stanley was going to be to go to one of the drugstores and upload one of the pictures of Russell and me from my phone into their photo machine. Then I could give them a print for their photo frame. Now that I had the option to pick the photo on this site and pick it up with the photo book, this was a no-brainer.
I paused before I completed the order.This was a no-brainer, right?April and Kim were on stand-by for me because I told them I was working on the digital photo book.
Ryan: Yo, girls. There’s an option to order the photo print I was going to give his parents. That’s a good idea, right?
April: Yes! Do it, Ry.
Kim: Oh, she’ll love it!
Ryan: She? It’s for his dad too.
Won’t his dad like this? Is this a stupid gift for him? Do I get him something else? Is it a stupid idea for Russell too?
Ryan: Is the picture idea dumb?
April: No, it’s not dumb.
Kim: His dad will love it too. It’s just that moms are notorious for enjoying gifts like these. Especially being her only son and his guy.
I moved back to the picture of us at Arches National Park. I was going to select that one, but maybe his parents wouldn’t really want to promote their son was with a guy. Their heteroflexible son.Did his parents even know that part, or did they just think he was bi?
Ryan: Maybe I should just give them a picture of Russell.
April: No!
Kim: Ryan, no!
Ryan: It would be a nice, updated picture of him they could put in a frame in their hobby room.
Kim: You already had the perfect pic selected.
April: Don’t change it. I will drive to you and kick your ass myself. Do not change the photo.
Ryan: Maybe they don’t want to have a picture of their son with a guy.
April: I swear, Ryan. This is not the dark ages.
Kim: I thought you said they’ve been wonderful and welcoming toward you.
