A breatherVE

Ahhhh, finally a real day off. For the past 10-12 weeks life has been so weird I have not had a real day off. Today...the world is brighter, the birds are chirping, and all is right in life. I was lazy and slept in until 7:15am..I woke on my own with no pressing agenda - stretched, rose, piddled around in the kitchen all while listening to the morning news and feeling very much myself again.

This weekend we traveled to Shreveport to our friends' commitment ceremony. It was the most perfect expression of their eclectic personalities! Never before have I been so moved by a ceremony - I cried - terribly unusual for me. The dress, the music, the candor..all such a beautiful representation of Andrea and Tonya's sense of humor, love for each other, and most importantly, love for the life they share. We are honored to have been a part of such a heartfelt expression of what's good in this world.

Eve and I spent hours discussing the service and our friends. At one point Tricha (Eve's sister) asked if we were going to have a ceremony. Well....we would love to have one - a real marriage - in a state where it's legal, but we're saddened by the thought that the only family members present would be Tricha, Chris, Amy, Gage and Kaloeb. We have a lot of friends who would come, but they're all in southern states and to think they would travel to Eastern seaboard is unrealistic. Eve and I feel married, we think married, we live our lives married so for us, the legal ceremony serves only to give us the same rights as our heterosexual friends and family. We would like to have medical insurance as a married couple, we would like to be able to legally make decisions for one another, we would appreciate the legal right to claim taxes as a married couple. We wonder why people who love us don't understand those things...sometimes we think that selfishness says that those people think they're better than us in some way. It speaks to us that it's nice that we work, pay taxes, live our lives with responsibility, meet our obligations, love our friends and families..yadda, yadda, yadda, BUT...how dare we consider that we shouldn't have to work harder, pay more, love harder than anyone else. It's almost a slap in the face sometimes..."we love you"; "we're happy to share our lives with you" and then there's a rush to the priest...a firm disapproval of participation in the mainstream marriage and relationship endeavors...a clear and apparent distaste for our need to treated the same as any other married couple.

I know I am ranting...not everyone treats us this way...in fact, most do not. Eve and I love each other and at the end of the day...eleven years later...what others 'permit' us has little bearing on our commitment to each other and the people in our lives.

See....I am having a real day off!!!:-) I have the time to sit here and compose one of my personal rants without interruption. WEHOOOO....

okay, gonna piddle some more, vaccuum, steam clean, wash walls...do my cathartic exercises love the day with all of my heart! Later Gators!!