A Valentine's Day Dedication

Last summer I partied with two good friends as they celebrated their marriage. They held their glasses high, smiles as big as I have ever seen and as I watched them, I was barely able to choke back my tears. I felt so much happiness for these beautiful women who have been in love for a quarter century and parent a beautiful child. Two people with a love that only a poet could adequately describe. It was such an honor to have been included in their perfect day.

 Two other friends plan to "make it legal" in a few months. They are another couple who have been together a very long time and have a beautiful closeness and love for one another. They are a couple  whose love has endured the disapproval of religious mores, small town conservatism and certain family members disapproval. My heart is filled with so much happiness for them as well and I will make sure to have plenty of tissues with me this time.

This year on Valentine's Day, I will dedicate the day to them, as well as all of the other couples who finally have the right to legally marry. I will think of them as I try to imagine what it must have been like to have waited so long for the voters to decide that it was finally legal to marry. As I celebrate the day with my partner of nearly forty years, I remember how easy it was for the two of us to marry, and how simple it was to get that piece of paper that changed everything for us. Admittedly, it's a privilege we have taken for granted all of this time.

Happy Valentine's Day my dear friends, I love you and send you our best wishes for many more years of happiness.

I'M FINALLY ONE OF "THOSE" PEOPLE

I promised myself that I wasn't going to be one of the many people I know who complain about the weather. I swore that I wasn't going to give my smug, snowbird friends the satisfaction of hearing me suffer the brutal conditions that we endure each winter. I'm not certain, but I think they love to hear our weather reports so they can feel nice and cozy in their comfortable surroundings. "Oh, as I was getting out of the pool, I heard it got to -29 in your area," my friend Liza from California said. "Oh, it's not so bad if you dress for it", was my brave reply, not wanting my voice to reveal one bit of envy. "We're used to it."

Today I caved. I am officially sick and tired of winter.  I have fallen in with the whiners and complainers. I'm sorry, but it's damn cold!!! Tonight I heard the announcer on Minnesota Public Radio give the temperature and describe the winds as "stiff". Stiff winds and dangerous conditions, someone needs to send help! We need a brigade of rescuers to envelop us in warm blankets and hot beverages. We need massive supplies of S.A.D. lights and goose down survival wear. This is serious business!

My optimist spouse, "The Ganz", cheerfully reported the other day that winter is half over and the days are getting longer. I'm trying to see things that way, but I think I'm going to need to thaw out first.