We were married a few years ago on the 19th of March when Oregon law had a loophole in it that essentially allowed gays and lesbians to marry. We normally celebrate our anniversary in the latter part of February as the date we met and became partners.A lesbian couple we know and love went down from Olympia, Wa. to Portland, Oregon to get formally hitched with us. At the time, they had been together for about six years and we had been together well into our twenties. What a wonderful feeling that finally we too, were going to be legally recognized as a married couple. On the drive down to Portland I was starting to experience a feeling I have not felt in a long time, butterflies, and after all this time together this feeling was back.
We arrived at a court house expecting a long line to file the appropriate paperwork and take it to a priest, pastor, or another official sanctioned to perform the final ritual the same day. Not being religious, it didn't matter who officiated and my partner, Steve felt the same way. As it turned out, the line was very short and we moved along in anticipation of being married and the euphoria of the whole event.
When we were finally, standing face to face, holding each others hands, looking into each others eyes, the emotion of the seriousness of this decision , and the genuine love of your partner looking back at you, humbled me and made me silent and in awe of this beautiful person standing in front of me loving me as much as I, him. "Do you take this man ...?" That did it. Tears were building in my eyes and I tried to say, "I do," but all I could summon was a croak, sniffle, a wipe of a tear and trying not to make a fool of myself. I did manage to say, " I do," and all the seriousness of taking this oath came flooding to me all at once. "To love, ( with all my heart, and have been for 27 years now. ) To honor, ( you bet I do, I take this very seriously. ) To obey, ( OK . . .now wait a minute, that's going a bit too far. LOL! We are in this for the long haul and our "taking the helm, is a mutual responsibility. ) Until death do you part?" ( This has been my plan and over time we started functioning as one. One unit. Not only do we love each other, but he is also my best friend. ) Well, my emotional status didn't help my love out at all. Him seeing me in what looked like pain, made him follow me off the cliff not unlike the lemming. Tears swelled up in his eyes and he croaked out an "I do, as well." Looking into his eyes and really seeing him, couldn't have made me love him more.
We were legally married for one year whilst the Reich-Wing Haters gathered money and, no doubt, favor. One year later a judge in one swipe of his pen annulled 3000 gay and lesbian couple's marriages. The day we were married was the happiest day of my life .
