A Ruling and a Veto

Both my husband and I are Texans.  We were born Texans.  Both my husband and I are gay.  We were born gay.  As a result you can imagine my joy when yesterday I received texts/email from Anni, my brother, my husband alerting me to the ruling in San Antonio...

Via NPR: "Saying that a Texas law barring same-sex marriage is unconstitutional and demeans the dignity of homosexuals, a federal judge struck down the law Wednesday. The ruling from U.S. District Judge Orlando Garcia doesn't mean gay marriages can be held in Texas, however; he placed a stay on the decision, anticipating an appeal by the state."

Also yesterday, Arizona governor vetoed the bill widely criticized as anti-gay.  

I feel like my world is finally catching up!  We need to keep it up.  Hooray!

I received a funny email from our friend Nini after the ruling and the veto were announced: "C'mon - every time I get a push notification from CNN these days, it's all about, "Gays can do this. Gays can't do that. Court says this. Appeal says that." How am I supposed to figure out what to do with [my husband] on Friday for his birthday when there's so much controversy???!"

Arizona

Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer must veto the legislation that discriminates against gays and lesbians in her state.  They say the original intent of the bill was to promote religious freedom but that's ridiculous - no one is attacking religion or Arizona citizens' personal beliefs.

Hey Arizona, the U.S.A. is a democracy not a theocracy.  Got it?

Open Letter

Dear Baby Girl,

Do you happen to know why it looks like someone has been chewing on our wood trim?  Our house is getting inspected by the buyers on Wednesday, and I want to be able to communicate if we have a termite problem or a French bulldog problem....unless you know of another reason why this appeared?

Sincerely,

Me.

We've got a lot of BALLS (in the air)

It's Sunday night.  I'm sitting at my computer in our beautiful house.  My husband is in the air headed to a conference in Las Vegas.  We just had the most amazing week, and I don't want to forget it...

• On Sunday, we became buyers of a house down the street.  Our purchase of the house is contingent on our current house selling
• On Sunday, we also dropped the dogs off at my husband's parents' house (this fact becomes important in a few more bullets)
• On Sunday, we also attended a fantastic dinner party in our honor.
• On Monday, we whipped our house into shape (after work)
• On Tuesday, my mother came to Dallas to oversee the professional carpet cleaning.  I had lunch with my mother, which is always a treat.
• On Wednesday, my father accepted a position with his current company in New Mexico.  For perspective, my mother and father have lived in my Texas home town their entire life excluding college and a few years in Houston post-college.  It's a big adventure for all of us, but they are keeping their house in my home town
• On Wednesday, we had a man down (It was stressful, but my husband's parents are the best)
• On Thursday we flew to Beaver Creek Colorado for our college friend's wedding
• On Friday, we skied the mountains
• On Friday, our beautiful home went on the market in Dallas
• On Friday, Trigger survived surgery. Three teeth were pulled and the remaining were cleaned. My husband's father has renamed Trigger to Toothless.
• On Friday, I was promoted at work, and I found out less than ten minutes before it was communicated to the firm.  My email blew up while I was on the mountain.
• On Friday, we partied with our friends at a snowy mountain wedding. (Note, our college friends are still crazy even though we're all in our thirties)
• On Saturday, we skied and hung out with college friends...because we love the craziness
• On Sunday, we reviewed the FOUR offers on our house and accepted one.  It looks like we are moving down the street to the 1994-fixer-upper-time-capsule-house.  

And here we are.  We live life in the fast lane, right?  It was a big, exciting week for us.

Our House, Our Very Very Fine House

Man Down

Our kids were spending the week at my husband's parents' house, and Trigger woke up yesterday morning with a swollen jaw and eye.  He was rushed to the vet and they discovered he has a messed up tooth.  He's on meds and surgery has been scheduled for Friday to remove the tooth.

Our little man will be 11 years-old this summer, and I hope he bounces back from this ordeal; I'm not posting the current pictures because it's sad to see, but you can tell he is in pain.  Trigger is lucky that he went down while at Papa and Yaya's house because they are such good caretakers.  I'm trying not to think about surgery too much, because I'm worried...I'm glad Yaya and Papa can lead us.

Of course we're sending Trigger lots of love right now.

Guests of Honor

My husband's parents' (life long) best friends hosted a dinner party at their spectacular home on Sunday, and we were the guests of honor.  We were celebrating getting legally married back in the fall, because as the host Joe A. said: "it would have been easier trying to get President Obama to dinner....you two are way too busy."

I'm glad we all found an open spot on our calendar because it was an event.   They served grilled rack of lamb sheep (we don't eat baby lambs, we eat fully grown sheep, right?), company rice, a huge salad and fruit skewers.

They also served Cindy's mother's banana pudding recipe, that has a secret ingredient (Eagle Brand), which makes it one of the best banana puddings I've ever eaten.  And it was a beautiful presentation...

It's nice how far we've come.  At the dinner party we talked about babies, houses, careers, and vacations.  It was no big deal that we were gay.  It was all normal.  At the end they presented us with nice gifts and said congratulations on our marriage! There was so much love at the table.

Life is good.

QOTD

"Last week, the Kansas House of Representatives embarrassed itself by easily passing a bill that aimed to make gay people separate and not equal. In the name of protecting the religious sensibilities of private employers, stores, hotels, movie theaters, parks, pools—any public accommodation—the law allowed them to turn away gay couples and could even have applied to gay individuals. It was grotesque."

- via Slate.com

Yes, this happened in U.S.A. in 2014.  We've come so far, but we're still not there yet.

Happy Birthday Charlie

Yesterday was the birth of my grandfather, one of my favorite men of all times.  In the years since my grandmother passed away my grandfather has focused on golf, reading western novels, drawing/painting, and spending time with family and friends.  My grandfather enjoys each day, and we all enjoy him.  We love him.

Happy Birthday Charlie!

Love

I was just telling my team at work when your marriage includes two men and no women, it means that you don't have to worry about Valentine's Day.  We're men.  The straight guys on my work team spent time this week ordering flowers for their significant others.  I was laughing at them.

When I got home my husband surprised me with dinner, red roses, and chocolate covered strawberries. I had nothing for him. Doh!

Happy Valentine's Day.

Thank you Dale Hansen

Dale Hansen is a legendary Dallas sports reporter.  In the 1980's he was one of the first to report SMU was paying their football players.  Every December he plays "Thank God for kids" video, which has become a Christmas tradition.  Dale Hansen is famously opinionated.

On a personal note, my husband's parent live on the same lake as Dale and his wife.  Growing up my husband attended Dale and Chris Hansen's annual charity event at their ranch that backs up to the lake.  I think Dale is genuinely a nice person, even though that's not exactly how he portrays himself on television.

I found this video because it was posted on Towleroad.  I watched it for the first time late last night in bed, and for some reason it made me feel warm and fuzzy on the inside.  Going through life as a minority is tough, because you get hit with opinions and statements and actions that belittle you and your people.  Having Dale Hansen stand up for the Michael Sam is equal to him standing up for all homos- indirectly Dale Hansen stood up for me and my husband.

Thank you Dale Hansen.

Medieval Times Fun

This weekend my brother organized a Medieval Times adventure for our family in celebration of our nieces 6th and 4th birthday.  For years I've passed the Medieval Times castle in Dallas, but I've just never walked inside.

My favorite part was the white horses performing at the first of the show.  (I want a white horse.) Overall it was fun to see with our group; however, it reminded me of the circus in that Medieval Times never missed a chance to try and take your money.   It was a money grab.  They grabbed a lot of my father's money!

It was great to make memories.  We all thought our knight (the blue knight) was a hottie, even though he didn't win the tournament.

This is a really big deal

"Missouri’s Michael Sam announces he is gay, may be first openly gay player in NFL"

I would just like to say: Thank you Michael Sam.  Thank you!

Georgia is at Sochi

Are you watching the winter olympics?  Did you see the Georgians in the opening ceremony?  We missed them the first time, but we circled back to see them walk out!  I'm so happy to see Georgians at this olympics, since Russia occupies inside the internationally recognized border between Georgia and Russia.  It's ridiculous.

I am looking forward to our return trip to Georgia later this year.  Maybe the Russians will have moved out by then?

QOTD

"The practice of sport is a human right. Every individual must have the possibility of practicing sport, without discrimination of any kind and in the Olympic spirit, which requires mutual understanding with a spirit of friendship, solidarity and fair play." –Olympic Charter

He Thinks I'm Strong

My husband left me a note, next to Crate&Barrel and CB2 discount coupons that arrived in the mail.

"I considered just throwing this away, but thought you are strong.  Be strong.  Love your husband."

After the first of the year, my husband challenged me to stop spending money...and I've succeeded for the most part...I can be strong, right?

Thank You Chevy

There were many great commercials last night during the Super Bowl.  I enjoyed the 1980's calling Radio Shack, Bob Dylan's buy American cars PSA, the Budweiser hometown hero, but only one advertisement brought a tear to my cheek...

Bubble

The apparent drug overdose of Philip Seymour Hoffman makes me sad, I enjoyed him in so many films, and it also makes me feel lucky that I have existed in a bubble without heroin and heroin addiction.  I don't know that I've ever been to a party with people taking heroin?  I don't know if I have any friends that have taken heroin?  How did I grow up in a bubble?  Maybe it was my small town upbringing which culturally stigmatized drugs (only losers do drugs).  Or maybe it was because I was in the business school in college; me and my friends were focused on our degrees more than experimenting.  Or maybe it was because I never had a cash surplus?

I just want to create a world for our future children where they don't have to deal with heroin and heroin addiction.

Should we move back to my hometown?!

Oh my.  Being a parent is going to be tough.

I'm going to worry about my children...their whole life!