He's, uh, you know...

My sister, Jenny, was disappointed that the following didn't end up on the Manifesto earlier:

A few months back Jenny gave birth to her second child. Baby Ryan must have snuck up on her because just a few weeks before his due date, she realized that they hadn't gotten a room ready for him. Her husband John and his friend Todd frantically started working on getting the room painted.

After painting one night, Todd and his wife were discussing possible baby names with Jenny and John. Todd suggested "Spencer." As the baby of my family and being the only boy, I get no respect from my three sisters. It seems to me that they are the ones that should be blamed that I would rather watch The OC than go hunting. Jenny said that Spencer wasn't a "manly" name. She said, "My little brother's name is Spencer and he's well…kinda…you know."

I met Todd for the first time a few days later. Traci and I were visiting Jenny and the newborn baby (her husband was at home with their other child) in the hospital when Todd and his wife came into the room to congratulate her. Jenny introduced us and Todd smiled and said hello. I didn't think anything of it.

Apparently, the meeting was a bit more noteworthy for him. When he talked to John on the phone later that day he said, "We stopped by the hospital to see Jenny. We met your brother-in-law and his friend."

"His friend?" John asked.

"Yeah. It was a girl." Todd replied.

"Was it his wife, Traci?" John asked.

"His wife? I thought he was…you know…a homosexual?"

"What? He's married. That was probably his wife he was with."

"Then why did Jenny keep saying that he was 'you know' the other night?"

"I think 'you know' meant that he's not the manliest guy in the world, not that he's gay."

I am happy to hear that when my sister describes me to her friends, I end up looking gay. I guess it didn't help that the day we were at the hospital, Traci's wedding ring was getting cleaned.

Jenny also told me that she was going to show him my website to further describe me. Great. I have a gay website, too.