“I love John Barrowman.”

This was the first statement out of my(then 7 yo) son’s mouth when he came home from a week at this Dad’s and his first FanFest here in Vancouver.

“Is he nice?”

“Yes.  And he’s really funny.  I love him.”

“Well, that’s good.”

“He’s gay you know.”

“I know.”

“Do you know what that means?”

“Yes.”

“It means he has a boyfriend instead of a girlfriend.”

“I know.”

He sits grinning to himself for a bit.

“I want him to adopt me.”

“Why?”

“Then I’d have two dads.”

“What about your dad?”

“Three dads!”

This is my son.

So….

I was browsing Twitter tonight with my Liam at my shoulder.   John Barrowman was playing a ‘find me’ game in downtown Vancouver.  First person to find him and take a selfie would get a $100.  donation to their favourite charity.

My son was on his feet in an instant.  “How many supermarkets are there downtown?  Look it up.”

I do.  “53”

“What!  How am I going to find him?”

“We’re not.  By the time we get downtown someone else will have found him anyway.”

A few minutes later JB posts a video.  He’s walking down Burrard Street.

“I know where he is!” Liam shouts.  That’s it.  He’s at the door putting his boots on.

He’s so passionate.  It’s so sweet.  I cave.

Liam runs all the way to the bus stop.  He yells for the bus to wait – it does.  The driver’s laughing.  He sits beside me.  “Check  Twitter.  Has anyone found him yet?”

I check.  No.    A few minutes later Barrowman posts another vid, from Davie this time.  Unfortunately, this one’s not as fun.  Now Davie is one of my favourite streets and neighbourhoods in downtown, it’s alive, vibrant and a hell of a lot of fun.  It is also a gay neighbourhood.  As such it attracts asshats who think that driving down Davie yelling homophobic slurs at people makes them look something other than the complete asshats that they are.   I’m very sorry JB that you experienced that in my city.  I am also sorry that people like that still exist really.

Onward.  We get off the bus at Davie and I have to stop Liam from running into traffic.   I know where we’re going now but Liam wants to just run.   We get to the market and Liam’s head almost spinning “Where is he?”

Not hard to spot; Barrowman stands out in a crowd.  So glad my son didn’t tackle him.  He did do a lot of talking, bouncing and hugging though.

“Don’t you recognize me from FanFest?”  was one of Liam’s first questions.

“Well, that was last year, you’ve grown a lot since then.” Came the wonderfully diplomatic answer.   I’m just laughing at this point.

Needless to say, we were the first ones to find him and Liam not only got a photo with someone he adores but also a donation to SOS Children’s Villages (which is the charity we chose.)

Sometimes it’s worth it to cave to your kids and go out on a rainy night to do something that would otherwise seem a bit insane.  My son (and daughter) are both extremely happy tonight.  Liam has gone to bed wearing his Doctor Who pyjamas.

So thank you John Barrowman for a fun night.  And for being so kind and gracious to my overly exuberant, bouncy little boy and my daughter who became nearly mute in your presence.

Hope you didn’t get too wet on the walk back.