Eight years

Eight years.  It's nearly how long President Obama has been in office.  It's nearly how long ago Prop 8 passed, banning marriage equality in California.

And today,  it's exactly how long I've been married to BP!

Like most LGBT couples, we have a variety of anniversaries.  The first kiss.  Falling in love. Moving in together.  We never thought we'd be REALLY married, it seemed impossible.  After all, Lawrence v. Texas , the SCOTUS decision that made homosexuality legal, was only in 2003.

And then, suddenly, we were married!  That blessed "summer of love", the few months when it was legal for same sex couples to marry in California. We married just a few weeks before Prop H8 passed, making us part of a lonely beachhead of married gay folk. We had a real anniversary--but it still had an asterisk, because our marriage evaporated outside of California.  We remained further off balance until May 2009 when the California court concluded that our marriages remained valid despite the proposition.

BP swam the Thames and in 2011, we had a church blessing.  Another anniversary to remember!

The marriage battles went on.  Windsor in 2013 made our marriage federally recognized, an anniversary of a sort!  And finally in 2015, Obergefell legalized marriage equality in all fifty states.

Throughout all this,  one thing remained and remains constant:  our love.  Is it possible to love more and more with each passing year?  I think it is.  We finish each other's thoughts.  We are never happier than when we are together.  Deeper and stronger every day.  She completes me.  I am so fortunate.