When A Young Boy Met His Boyfriend, Darren Criss

I’ve posted about this Mom and Son before, like the time the son told his mother, when he was seven, that he was gay. And how the mom said, "I love you so much." But this is another tale of that Mom and son, and of Blaine, from that TV show.

A mother asks a son what he wants for Christmas and the son replies, "I want to meet Blaine [from ‘Glee’] and sing and play the guitar with him."

The son has a crush on Blaine, played by Darren Criss [side note: that’s a little something the son and I have in common] and even calls Blaine “my boyfriend” {side note: I do that, too] but what was Mom to do when her son asked for that particular gift?

"Baby, there are some things Mom just can't do …. You can't ask for people for Christmas."

The son seemed to realize that and the conversation dropped.

But then, a few months later, Darren Criss announced he was doing a 16-city concert tour that was coming relatively close to where that little boy lived. And, even knowing it would be an expensive outing, with tickets and motel rooms and gas and meals, Mom decided to take her son to his boyfriend’s concert.

And on the way they talked about Blaine and Darren; one was real, and one was a TV character. When the son first saw Blaine he was six, so the idea that Blaine and Darren could be the same person was foreign to him, but now he was 8, and now he understood.

But still, Blaine/Darren was his boyfriend and he wanted to meet him.

Mom has written many posts for the Huffington Post about her son, and they have become fairly popular, so she sent some emails and made some calls, and Mom had a big surprise for her son: he was going to meet Darren Criss.

The son was anxious, and they arrived at the House of Blues in Chicago very early, before the concert, so they wouldn’t be late. They played games and people-watched, and the son fretted about missing his chance. But finally, the time had come.

The son was nervous and happy and anxious and shy and all sorts of emotions, but Darren Criss, according to Mom, was “charming and lovely.” She won’t tell you what they talked about; maybe the son will share that one day himself, but Mom did get a chance to speak with Darren.

“What could I say to this young man who meant so much to my kid, this young man who, by playing a television character, had helped lead my son to tell me about his orientation and, by extension, helped change the trajectory of my own life toward activism? ‘Thank you’ felt so insufficient, but it was all I had.”

After the chat, it was time for the show. Mom and son settled in to watch, and the son spent a great deal of time taking pictures. But there, in the middle of the show, Darren began to play one of his original songs, "Not Alone" and Mom sang the words to her son:

"Baby, you're not alone,

'Cause you're here with me,

And nothing's ever gonna bring us down,

'Cause nothing can keep me from lovin' you,

And you know it's true.

It don't matter what'll come to be;

Our love is all we need to make it through."

After the show, the son held tight to his mother, and said, "Mom, meeting Darren Criss was all the trillions times better than a hotel with a pool."

And that meant the world to Mom.

Every gay kid needs a Mom  like that, and every gay kid needs someone to look up to, and admire, and maybe have a little crush on, who treats them as sweetly as Daren Criss treated that boy.

I'm more than a little bit jealous.

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