In the beginning, for a lot of us, it was something we proudly called ourselves. It described us immediately as someone that supported, adored, and yes, even loved Clay Aiken.
Right after AI2 was over I was searching the internet looking for others that felt the way I did. I didn't want AI2 to be the last I'd hear of Clay. The first place I found was what is now called The Clayboard.
One of the first things we wanted to do was to shout out loud 'Hi, I'm a Claymate!!' and you'd hear back 'Nice to meet you, I'm a Claymate too". You don't see that anymore. At least I haven't.
Any day I went to work, if I talked about Clay it would never fail, that I'd say proudly 'I'm a Claymate'. I'd get such a good feeling saying it too. I bought myself a T-shirt with the word in it, I bought myself a license plate.... you know what it says.... 'Honk, if you're a Claymate' .
Do I call myself that now? No. Don't get me wrong. I'm a 'Claymate at heart'. I still adore, love and support Clay Aiken and want him to continue to sing, and to entertain me however he sees fit.
It's just that the term/word now has lost some of it's innocence.
If you were to say to someone now that your a Claymate, they might automatically think the worst of you. They might think you are what is called 'rabid'. You probably have your own definition of rabid, so I'll leave that up to you to express.
I would venture to say that the 'Claymates at heart' now prefer to not be called 'Claymate'. Am I wrong? Tell me.
I now call myself a 'Clay fan' because I don't want to be to be considered an irrational fan, but I am a 'CLAYMATE AT HEART'.
What a shame it has come to this.
p.s.
I still won't remove the license plate. It will stay in my back window... as well as the Clay Aiken cap.
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