Yea SCOTUS!

Well, I'm ashamed of myself. The history-making, land-shaking, LGBT-validating Supreme Court rulings of striking down DOMA and Proposition 8 have yet to make it to my blog. And to top it off, they were made on the FOURTH anniversary of that tranquil evening on the banks of the Mississippi when we kissed for the first time in front of family, danced and cried happy tears, and said 'I do'. (I can't believe I just had to stop and think about how to spell Mississippi.)

So how DO I feel? Well, like...finally. Maybe now that the highest court in the land says that it is unConstitiutional to discriminate against our right to be married, some real changes will occur in this country. (Seriously, why the heck does unConstitutional have a squiggly line under it? You wouldn't capitalize un but Constitution is a proper noun. I'm leaving it that way.)

I believe in numerology, so I knew that the rulings would be in our favor. Think about it DOMA is a four-letter acronym, and it was our fourth anniversary. Coincidence? I think not! And Prop 8...half of 8 is 4, and Prop is a four-letter abbreviation. 2013? 2 +0= 2, 1+3=4... 2X4=8. You bet baby, it had to come down. (This is not calculated from some scientific numerology method. I came up with it myself, folks. Simple math.)

Now there are 13 states in the U.S. of A that have marriage equality. In keeping with numerology, I told Noni that we should plant a tree or bush for every state that comes around. (It was her idea to get trees for our anniversary, so I just built on that idea because I am into politics more than her.) So we already planted three this year, so now only ten more. That may sound crazy like we will end up as forest dwellers by the time all the states come around (and believe history, they will... albeit my bet is on Utah coming in dead last clinging to and claiming it's God's will to uphold "traditional family values," whilst polygamist branches laden their pedigree charts). Which brings me back to trees, the ones we will be planting and inundated by...we have a big lot, over an acre, that needs some trees to block out the noise and the view of the gravel pit. We'll be fine for a while even if we start planting one for all the countries that start legalizing equality in marriage. A shout out to New Zealand!

You may be curious to know if this ruling has made an everyday difference in our lives. You bet! When I had my check-out with the principal at the end of the school-year, he asked me to tell him what insurance I would be choosing for next year since we are losing yet more benefits and going to a high-deductible plan. He was on duty trying to get people to predict which plan to be on according to how healthy or accident prone they might be. How do you think this sounded to him, "Uh, I won't be able to say until a Supreme Court ruling"? (Ha! I still chuckle at the hyperbole this seems to be, and you should have seen his face. Something like{?: /] if I were to try to draw it with symbols, which is working out like when I draw a face on an Etch-a-Sketch.) But then I explained to him (a former LDS bishop) that if DOMA is ruled unConstitutional, then I will be getting on Noni's insurance. And so that's it! That's how our life has changed--I'm called a spouse to Noni on a federal piece of paper and have her benefits without having to have "power of attorney" or something. (But P.S., we can only do that in Utah where our marriage is not recognized because we were married legally in Iowa, and she is employed by the federal government.) Now, I am putting off calling my principal (now promoted to superintendent) to tell him I am opting out of the HD insurance because I want to see his face when I tell him in person.

By the way, if you are reading this, could you please comment or follow me or something because I am thinking about using this blog as a secret diary. The internet. It will be a perfect hiding place! Better than under my mattress and my kids will never find it.