that helped LGBT people to avoid discrimination by offering
psychological support on the phone. It was then I discovered that
I wanted to be a psychoanalyst.
After many years in New York, I can still feel that energy,
and my partner and I both love to charge up on it during the week.
But it’s great to be able to balance things, to go to the country,
to be alone with our cat; knowing that all around us there are
mountains, deer and bears”. A buen retiro, as they say in Italy
using a Spanish expression, like the park in Madrid built by a king
in the past, a place to live with a different rhythm. “Our work in the
city is full of great intensity. I welcome patients to my studio, and
I absorb the tensions of the people who talk about their lives.
My partner, after many years of roaming the world, is now in charge
of communications for a large corporation. When we come up to
Woodstock, the intention is to slow down the pace, and time sure
becomes more elastic. We have a fireplace, a swimming pool for
the summer, and we can cook outside”. How does one find the
perfect buen retiro? “We wanted a place where we would not have
to give up the pleasure of dining out in a nice place, visiting an
exhibition, and we wanted it to be welcoming. Painters, actors,
directors live in Woodstock. There is a foundation that offers
residencies to young artists from all over the world. You see many
gay, interracial couples, and people of different faiths. On Sundays,
we get together at the Square Drum Circle, where people come to
play music and dance with others”. Bryan’s eyes light up when he
talks about the old dairy farm, and the woods around it. “At first we
had guests every week, then our friends were contaminated by our
enthusiasm. It was like a wave, they would come to visit and then
decide to buy houses for themselves. Today we almost never have
guests, because our friends have all followed us here. David’s
brother has opened a pizzeria in town”. Aren’t you ever afraid, I ask
Bryan, to spend nights out here? “The crime rate in Woodstock is
incredibly low, definitely lower than most neighbourhoods in New
York. Actually, the real danger is to run into a hungry bear. Luckily,
for the time being, we’re doing fine”. The hour’s up, doctor, I tell
Bryan after our chat. He laughs. “It’s nice not being the one who
has to say that for a change. Plus, it is always time spent
pleasantly, when I can talk about our house”. You can see him
thinking about the weekend, and that old wooden house two hours
from Fifth Avenue. The idea of a buen retiro has an additional
purpose: making one eagerly await, with excitement.
District: Woodstock
Bryan in New York.
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