(no subject)

The jewelry store right down the road from us was robbed today. Strange to think the sirens I heard while working out today were probably for that.

Dropped Alan off at the Canary Hut so he could socialize with the coworkers. I didn't feel up to seeing and/or conversing with anyone, so I came home to work on my White Wolf write up and maybe make salsa.

Several of my roses have opened into full bloom. I love them. They seem so large and decadent in our crystal pitcher.

and the road goes ever on and on

Sandoval County in New Mexico is now offering same sex marriage licenses and I wonder if this will spread further. I feverently hope so.

Do we, as Americans, have a duty to struggle against unjust laws? Should we allow discrimination against certain groups of people in our society based on dislike of their skin color, their gender, their religion, their choice of sexual partners and lovers? I can't help but be reminded of Animal Farm right now, and the pigs chanting "Four legs good, two legs better." Some are still considered more equal than others.

Should we not extend the same rights to every citizen of our country? Would a ballot measure declaring only marriages between couples of the same race could be married be allowed to stand? Or one that declared only men could make choose their partners? Would we allow only members of certain religions to marry? Would we sit quietly and wait for courts to decide these issues which why in the face of our commitment to equality? Or would we engage in civil disobedience, as we have so many times in our history?

Government sanctioned partnership doesn't mean a damn thing about anyone's relationship to their love. It exists to allow for joint property, shared medical and tax decisions and all those strange details of life in bureaucracy. Government sanctioned marriage isn't so much about love, but about rights.

I hear so much talk about how marriage needs to be defended. Defended from what? Men and women in love? Would it not make more sense to do something about our country's significant divorce rate instead? Could we not instead turn our energies towards building better relationships, being better people?

These are the things I'm thinking about today.

Why did I get married?

I married Alan because I loved him more than I imagined could be possible. I didn't need a marriage license or a ceremony to tell me that however. I married Alan because I wanted to share everything I had with him. I wanted to share health insurance decisions, taxes, a name, a home, grocery shopping and all those mudnane details of life. I wanted to publicly and formally declare my love for him and join our lives together. I wanted there to be no question in anyone's mind that we would go together to the end of the road. I wanted to have a celebration of our declaration and our love. We did, and I will be grateful eternally for everyone involved because it was exactly what we wanted it to be.

Everyone should have the same opportunity I had. It just comes down to a matter of human decency.

original fiction in 20 minutes, inspired by one sentence

She hated the waiting most of all.

The silence of the outpost unnerved her a little, but what truly made her skin crawl was the wind. It made strange, unnatural sounds as it whipped through the rock and over the rattlign metal of the shelter. Exploration being lower on the list of priorities than say, arms production, the outpost was not made of top quality material. She just prayed it would last until her relief arrived.

****

Overnight a storm had kicked up and the wind battered the shelter with stinging, mica-flecked sand. It kept her from sleeping, and so she huddled beneath a sturdy lab bench behind a protective barrier of boxes. It wouldn't really do all that much good if the wind ripped her metal home open, but something was better than nothing. She was not the type to lay down and die, no matter how much she might want to at the time.

****

At some point, she drifted off. The wind stopped wailing in the morning.

****

Three days later, sand was still tumbling down from the roof. It seeped in cracks, and seemed to contaminate even the food in its vacuum sealed packs. The sand was driving her crazy. In the beginning she found it beautiful. Drifts and dunes moved between the rocks, sparkling in the light. The sand was more colorful than any she had ever seen, red and black and gold. Now she hated the sand, brushing it out with a fury and cursing the lack of proper shower facilities. A real shower was the first thing she wanted when that ship arrived.

****

Every day, the radio static was the same. It reminded her of the shifting sound of the sand on the roof. She would flip through the frequencies, and then back to the assigned channel. Every day, she fretted that the ship wouldn't make it. She neglected her research, halfheartedly scanned the monitors mounted round the area and their various recordings. The wind kept her awake at night.

****

"This the Rendevous speaking. Come in. Come in. Rendezvous speaking. We are currently in orbit for scheduled pickup and awaiting confirmation. Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, where are you doctor? "

The reciever's buzz snapped her ought of her reverie, and she nearly fell in the rush to reach to console.