Initiation Quotes

“We are not human beings having a spiritual experience but spiritual beings having a human experience.”
― A Memoir by Young, Initiation

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” Mark Twain”
― Young, Initiation

“Love does not consist in gazing at each other, but in looking together in the same direction.” Antoine de Saint-Exupery”
― Young, Initiation

“Fashion can be bought. Style one must possess.” Edna Woolman Chase”
― Young, Initiation

“Forget love; I’d rather fall in chocolate.” Bernard Tristan Foong”
― Young, Initiation

“There were times when I wondered how my life would be if I had followed Andy to New Zealand. My decision to come into my own and to be “me” was definitely a better choice than that of living in the shadow of another man's dream. As the saying goes: "A person who walks in another's tracks leaves no footprints." Young”
― Young, Initiation

“When I was studying for my 2nd Master Degree in Theatre Costuming at the Fitzgerald Theatre at The University of Hawaii, I met my life partner, Walter Bissett, a successful realtor and, also ‘God!’ An Andy archetype! We have been together for nineteen years. We currently reside on the beautiful island of Maui, Hawaii.”
― Young, Initiation

“My memories of Andy continue to be a reminder about what it means to live generously and to love unconditionally. Until Andy, I didn’t know this kind of love and commitment existed. I found it noble, and filled with integrity. Magnanimous Andy provided stability and a road map for me, who desperately craved love. During our four years together he found my soul, and cherished it. I will always remember my Valet, my lover and mentor, as God in human form. He performed his Valet duties well. I grew into a confident, responsible and successful man, who follows his own footsteps, never walking in those of others. Breaking up with Andy was the hardest thing I ever did, but it was the right decision then.”
― Young, Initiation

“Andy was destined to be an international engineering expert in bridge building, and I was destined to be a fashion designer. As much as I had come to love him, I knew instinctively, at my core, that New Zealand was no place for me. I had to be in London or Paris. He obtained a scholarship in 1970 to engineering school at the prestigious University of Canterbury.”
― Young, Initiation

“My Valet and Lover Andy How can I ever forget Andy, with whom I spent four wonderful years of my life? Our separation was one of the most difficult decisions I’ve ever had to make. It was devastating to Andy, as well. To this day, I still have the occasional regret that I did not accept his sincere, loving proposal to be his life partner. He asked me to live in New Zealand with him.”
― Young, Initiation

“I continued my affair with Oscar while in service at the Sekhem, where Andy was also stationed. When Andy discovered the affair, which was documented in my diary, he asked me to never keep any secrets from him, again. He lectured me on the ethics of honesty, insisting that the truth would always set me free. He forgave me, over time, even though he was deeply hurt. He was more hurt by my lies than he was by my love of Oscar. Andy’s love for me never waned; our relationship improved with each passing year.”
― Young, Initiation

“Mum died peacefully in her sleep from Alzheimer’s at age seventy-six, in a nursing home, unable to recognize any members of her family. To honor her, I decorated her wooden casket with one hundred and one red roses: one hundred lined the outer edges, representing those she had loved and been loved by. The one I placed near her heart was from me; the effeminate son who thought the world of her.”
― Young, Initiation

“As much as I had promised myself that I would never return to Kuala Lumpur, after college I found myself working there for a large corporate fashion company from 1992 to 1994, before Mother's passing. I needed to spend time with the only woman I ever loved, a woman who was loved and cherished by many.”
― Young, Initiation

“I never saw my mu'allmi again. All the golden eggs have been sold, but I am very grateful and thankful to the man who laid them! Those valuable eggs afforded me the opportunity to attend college, where I earned a terminal degree in fashion. I later became a known fashion designer. Thank you, Ramiz, for laying a dozen of these eggs for me.”
― Young, Initiation

“My Friend Ubaid Ubaid’s perennial womanizing and “man-izing” continued. He defied his father's wishes by not returning to Dubai. Ubaid finished architectural school at Trinity College in Dublin, and then married Gianna, after graduation. Their marriage ended in divorce a few years later, because of his infidelity.”
― Young, Initiation

“I was deeply saddened when news reached me that the Hadrah had passed from cancer, in 1976. He had been a wonderful surrogate father to me. I had desperately needed a mature male figure in my life. This understanding man accepted me. He did not try to change me; instead he encouraged me to see the world through my own, fresh eyes.”
― Young, Initiation

“The Hadrah Hakim The last I saw of the Hadrah was in the summer of 1967, when Andy and I decided to take a week's vacation and tour the Greek Islands. Hakim kept his promise of a week's use of the Simorgh and the Kahyya’m, and sent his plane to collect us at Heathrow. My Master was on his way from London to Monte Carlo, where the Kahyya’m was docked.”
― Young, Initiation

“While my choice to enter a secret forbidden society at age twelve was unconventional, looking back, I am grateful that I decided to take the road less traveled and venture into an unknown world. Without”
― Young, Initiation

“I shall be telling this with a sigh – somewhere ages and ages hence: two roads diverged in a wood, and I - I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.” Robert Frost”
― Young, Initiation

“A new dress doesn't get you anywhere; it's the life you're living in the dress.” Diana Vreeland”
― Young, Initiation

“I was glad to be alone with Andy. That night we made passionate love. This romantic city had seduced lovers over centuries. This night I only had Andy on my mind. I was relieved.”
― Young, Initiation

“This was my initiation into the professional world of theatre. In later years I had the opportunity to design stage costumes for major theatrical productions. I obtained a full postgraduate scholarship in theatre costuming studies at the prestigious Fitzgerald Theatre at the University of Hawaii.”
― Young, Initiation

“Male and female eyes gravitated towards Andy as soon as we walked into the café. He was certainly the crème of the crop and I was the lucky one who got to take home the trophy.”
― Young, Initiation

“There goes a saying, and 'twas shrewdly said, “Old fish at table, but young flesh in bed.”” Alexander Pope”
― Young, Initiation

“Darling Andy was looking in the same direction as me. It was me who had the problème.”
― Young, Initiation

“Andy kept looking at me, throughout the journey, as if he couldn't get enough of me. I could tell he was undressing me with his eyes, like in the early days before we became lovers; his charming grins gave his desires away. I,”
― Young, Initiation

“La Belle Époque was a cabaret dance hall, much like the famous Moulin Rouge and Folies Bergere. We didn’t know that the evening's Beauty Pageant was a competition for The Lady Boy of Paris. The winner would proceed to compete at a flamboyant gala Lady Boy of the Year Award, held in Berlin on New Year's Eve.”
― Young, Initiation

“To me, it seemed strange and suddenly not strange at all, that many people have double lives. No one would guess Andy and I were male courtesans allocated to Arabian harems to service their household. Certainly at Maxim's we were disguised as two well-groomed aristocratic gentlemen having fun dancing with young ladies. I didn’t realize that many others in this opulent hall were courtesans and cicisbei, just like Andy and me.”
― Young, Initiation

“They ordered from various designers, and returned to Paris several weeks later for their fittings. I was able to attend the fittings also, since I was in Paris working with Aziz on 'Sacred Sex in Sacred Places.”
― Young, Initiation

“Happy boys are the handsomest.” Bernard Tristan Foong”
― Young, Initiation