Thank You 2011

Happy New Year!

The new year gives me a chance to reflect...

I maintain this blog because I want to prove to the world that my husband and I are really just like any other married couple. There is nothing mysterious or abnormal about our coupling; we're two individuals that love each other very much and are building a life together. I also maintain this blog because I want to prove we're just like any other couple BUT we don't have the same rights as other couples. I am as honest as possible with these posts, because I want to "pull back the curtain" on what it is like to be a gay couple living and working in Middle America.

I have very little patience for the little injustices in our society, and in my small way I want to shine the light on those little things that in aggregate make my life with my husband different from my brother's life with his wife. I always say I just want equal rights as my brother- nothing more.

But with the new year I want to say how grateful I am to be alive and living in 2011. I seriously doubt my husband and I could live the same life if we were living in the previous generation. Our world isn't perfect, but it's getting better each year. One day I hope to tell my children about the time when their fathers couldn't legally get married. In the same way mothers of the early part of last century told their daughters about the time when women couldn't vote. I hope my children can't believe that we were never allowed to get married the same way it's hard to believe that mixed race couples at one time couldn't legally marry in some states.

So, happy new year...I'm glad we have another year to improve our world...and make it a more perfect union...