I opened the door to the sex shop and found my mother standing in front of the display case talking to a tall salesman wearing a leather harness, jock strap and a dog collar. The first thought was, “Oh, crap!” The second was, “I hate it when Dad’s right.”
Watching my mother investigate the testicle torture devices, cock rings and nipple clamps was not even close to being on the weekend’s itinerary. It was so far removed from my itinerary, it was in a separate zip code. This New York trip was supposed to be a celebration of my thirty-fifth birthday, it was supposed to be an opportunity for me to have one last grand hurrah before the fall semester kicked in and buried me under the pressure of literature reviews, critical analysis papers and thesis research. I envisioned this weekend to be a fun filled romp around the Big Apple, not a safari through Leather Wonderland with my mother.
Thus begins David Alan Morrison’s hilarious memoir about the evolution of family dynamics. Following the sudden death of his father, a single, middle-aged gay guy struggles with his own mortality by reminiscing about the travels with his gregarious mother and, in doing so, discovers a new dimension to his relationship with himself, his parents and his regrets. Travels With Penny is an honest look at the transformation of the baffling, complex relationship between children and their parents.
Watching my mother investigate the testicle torture devices, cock rings and nipple clamps was not even close to being on the weekend’s itinerary. It was so far removed from my itinerary, it was in a separate zip code. This New York trip was supposed to be a celebration of my thirty-fifth birthday, it was supposed to be an opportunity for me to have one last grand hurrah before the fall semester kicked in and buried me under the pressure of literature reviews, critical analysis papers and thesis research. I envisioned this weekend to be a fun filled romp around the Big Apple, not a safari through Leather Wonderland with my mother.
Thus begins David Alan Morrison’s hilarious memoir about the evolution of family dynamics. Following the sudden death of his father, a single, middle-aged gay guy struggles with his own mortality by reminiscing about the travels with his gregarious mother and, in doing so, discovers a new dimension to his relationship with himself, his parents and his regrets. Travels With Penny is an honest look at the transformation of the baffling, complex relationship between children and their parents.
