Good Morning!

Well, in case you missed it somehow, yesterday was Bob & Raine's first anniversary. (Bob's birthday, too!)

Looking back to last Saturday's blog, that ties in nicely with our human obsession with time; it's a life milestone worth celebrating and remembering.

This got me thinking about my own marriage....Mrs. TriSec and I took a different path than Bob and Raine. We first met in 1991, when we both worked for the same company a couple of desks away. That Christmas, we went to the company party together as a 'first date', and we still remember December 21 each year.

We became comfortable together, but never really moved towards "the big M" for the first few years. It was my brother's wedding in 1994 that finally upped the ante; we finally decided to get married a year later, but it wasn't until 1996 that we sealed the deal.

So....this July 14, we'll be celebrating our lucky 13th year of marriage. (Lace, textiles, or furs....pm me for our address! )



Marriage is an interesting thing. Two people decide they want to spend the rest of their lives together, then go to some kind of official empowered by the state and tell the rest of the world.

But there's the rub, isn't it? As Bob mentioned yesterday, he and Raine eloped and went before a Justice of the Peace in a civil ceremony. This made them legal in the eyes of the law....but according to any church, they're living in sin.

Mrs. TriSec and I took the opposite tack; I even went so far as to go to adult confirmation classes so we could get married in the Catholic Church by a priest with a full mass. But if the law didn't recognize this ceremony, we'd be unmarried as far as the government is concerned.

Every wedding you've ever seen on TV has the official saying some variation of the phrase..."By the powers vested in my by the State of X....I now pronounce you man and wife."

You know that the Commonwealth of Massachusetts was the first state to "legalize" same-sex marriage. Connecticut and California followed suit, and now the Vermont legislature is busily drumming up support to override a promised veto by the Republican governor. (Unfortunately, we all know what happened in California.)

But perhaps most stunning of all, Iowa legalized same-sex marriage this week.

Here's where the rubber meets the road. Iowa is conservative, heartland, religious. If this state can recognize a universal right for all people, perhaps there is hope for the United States after all.

Alas, like the term "Global Warming", we on the left have allowed our opponents to define the terms for us. (It should have been called "Global Climate Change"). I think it's pretty easy to tell what side of the debate someone stands on....do they call it "Gay Marriage"? There's your answer.

I remember something that was said by one of our members on that other message board. "I fell in love with a person, not their anatomy." I wish I could remember who said it, but shouldn't that be the definition of marriage?

My solution would be easy; the government should get out of the marriage business entirely. Those that would follow the traditional "one man, one woman" marriage can get married in the church of their choice without worrying about getting a marriage license. Those that would marry who they love without worryng about 'their anatomy' can get a certificate from a civil servant, and both couples would be entitled to exactly the same rights and priviledges.

Simple, right?

I am still waiting for someone on the religious right to tell me why their belief system should be the law of the land...and what they plan on doing with those that have different beliefs.