A snow day by any other name...

A snow day! I hadn’t imagined, when I took this new job, that I’d get a snow day. I’m thrilled. Yesterday, with blizzard-terror instilled in us all, I packed my backpack in a manner of which Brown Pop would be proud. We’d been told to come prepared to stay overnight, in case conditions got worse more quickly than predicted, and in case we needed to babysit hundreds of stranded passengers until flights were moving again. Thanks to the logic of the company, and the fact that they really do seem to put our safety as a top priority, the decision came from France: cancel all except the first flight out on Monday and all flights on Tuesday. Get the bulk of the employees home safely before public transportation shuts down.

And shut down it did. Most of us started our trek home around 5pm. I usually take a bus and then air train to work; I heard that the air train shut down about 7pm last night and the buses started shutting down around 9pm. By 11pm, the subway and trains shut down, and a curfew was put in place for all except emergency vehicles and snowplows. The mayor made sure to emphasize that food delivery bikes were not considered emergency vehicles in case some were unsure. (Although there’s now a conspiracy theory flying around about the Governor secretly keeping the subways running even though he told the city they were shutting down…pretty tricky of him, eh? For what reason? Who can figure...) The city is pretty creative when it comes to plows, by the way; with eight million people, you can imagine just how many garbage trucks this city uses. Many of those same garbage trucks become snowplows when the white stuff starts to fall. I'm impressed.

So now here we are cozied up in our tiny space, while the snow continues to fall, all warm and toasty; grateful for this life I now live. The blizzard fizzled out in our area leaving only 11-20 inches; that’s barely enough to cancel school up here! I’m sure they’ll joke about the little blizzard that wasn’t for weeks, but for now, I’ll soak up every second of my snow day and have another cup of coffee. 

A Year of Marriage

One year ago today, we were married. With the uncles as witnesses, and a beautiful snow falling, we made our way to the courthouse that Friday morning. I was as excited as I've ever been in my entire life.

First, I never thought I'd actually say that phrase in any context. Actually, both of us were pretty much set on not saying that phrase, and we were both mutually content with that decision until us came into existence.  No offense to my married friends, but the concept never seemed all that appealing to me to be frank. I was happy being an independent gypsy soul and so was M-. Now we are all the more happy being independent gypsy souls exploring this great big world...together.

Second, we now live in a state--and slowly a country--where we can actually say that phrase. There's been great progress towards equality this year. We weren't any more committed, happy, or in love on January 11, then we were on January 9, but I had never realized the impact of actually denying someone their right to life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness, until I came out. Shame on me, for I had fallen into the trap of if it doesn't affect me it's not that important. Our marriage does not cause hurricanes or natural disasters, but it does gives me great peace of mind, legally, concerning our future pursuit of happiness. 

Third, It seems like yesterday and it seems like lifetimes. I've not known someone who gets me like M-. Period. We are connected in such a manner that is actually quite comical at times. We've had to start asking the other before we do certain things. For example, I've lost track of how many times we've both gone to the store on the same day and picked up the same thing....or done odd things around the house--on the same day--such as turning the mattress or cleaning the fridge. (we've done this more than a couple of times, which is hilarious when you think of it...) Our little lucky bamboo has been watered twice on the same day so many times that we've lost count. Luckily it is resilient and forgiving. 

Life has thrown me some unexpecteds along the way, as life normally does, but none compare to the joy of this unexpected force of nature that exploded into my life like fireworks in the dark of night. The glimmer in my eye? Yeah, that's her.

As we continue towards equality, I will strive to be more aware of the needs of others. Just because something doesn't affect me, does not mean it is not important and worthy of contemplation and change. We all deserve the right to pursue a happy and peaceful life; we all deserve to love and be loved in a healthy fashion ultimately adding to the collective peace and love in our world. I think we can all agree we need more of that in these days of unrest and violence. As I'll continue to say, we are all in this thing called life together. Happy Anniversary, M-, I love you more each day. Yeah, you're stuck with me.