Happy Anniversary to us!

Sunday was our eighth anniversary. Sometimes I think eight years - wow, that's a long time. I'm only 29. Sometimes I think - only eight years? I feel like I've known K my whole life.

We had an active anniversary. We went to church and announced during Joys and Sorrows that it was our anniversary. Every one clapped and later said congrats. Our friend C said 'Wow, you guys are getting old!'. C, I think you're older than we are...

The organizer for the church women's retreat came to beg us to attend. We told her we couldn't spend the $150 each because we have to buy sperm. We didn't really want to go, but money is always a nice excuse.

After church I went to our church's LGBTQA Task Force meeting while K went to Safeway and bought an Ovulation Predictor Kit. She cheaped out with the store brand - $23 for 7 sticks to pee on. That's officially the first expense of our baby making experience. We will be using these in March.

We came home for lunch and then took our dog to Petsmart to get her nails clipped. Doesn't this sound like the most romantic anniversary ever? It does get better.

After Petsmart, we went for a walk in the park. Then rushed home to get gussied up for a nice dinner at a swanky vegetarian restaurant in DC. This is our go-to place for nice dinners. It feels fancy, but it's not actually that expensive - maybe $15 for an entree. We've only been a few times - to celebrate my birthday, to celebrate K passing her professional exam. We love it there, so we try to keep it special. We had a very tasty dinner and I really enjoyed just talking to K. We get so caught up in the day to day, we don't get to just talk to each other some times.

Back at home we stopped into the Oscar party in our condo for a few minutes - long enough to see the monologue and a few awards. Saying we had to go to bed, we left early. Feeling happy and in love, we came home to poop on our floor that had to be cleaned up.

That's parenting, right? We used to have these big romantic nights out. Now we have to clean poop off of the floor on our anniversary. And I'm okay with that.

Restaurant: Vegetate

Religion

When I tell people that I was raised Southern Baptist, they say "Oooh...". But I say, no, not that Southern Baptist. I was raised as a part of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, a liberal off-shoot of the Southern Baptist Church. How liberal? I don't know. I was just a kid in a non-political family, so I don't really know the church stance on various political issues. I do know that my minister was a wonderful man. He spoke at my grandfather's (Papa's) funeral when I was 18. My grandma (Granny), a Catholic, was worried because Papa was anti-religion. Where did he go when he died? The minister gave a sermon at the funeral which I will always remember. He said that God is love. That God is not concerned with if you go to church. God is concerned with what you do, how you live your life. I didn't know it at the time, but that's liberal religion.

Now I'm a Unitarian Universalist, but not because I'm not a Christian. My partner was raised Hindu/Muslim, and we needed a church home that was big enough to encompass all of our beliefs. We also wanted a church that supported our family as a same-sex couple, and knew that Christian, Hindu, and Muslim churches traditionally would not be supportive.

My childhood minister died when I was 19, about 6 months after Papa. My dog died a few weeks later. It was a hard year. I didn't come out until I fell in love with K, when I was 21. What would he think? What would he say? I imagine he wouldn't be supportive. The website for the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship is vague regarding their support of gay-issues. In a way, I'm glad he's not here to reject me. It would hurt too much.

In college I attending a church that was a part of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship that was even more liberal. They had female Deacons, my home church did not. Around the time that I was considering my own sexuality there was a Sunday school discussion about homosexuality. It was the kinder, gentler approach to homosexuality as a sin, but it still left me uneasy. Not long after I stopped attending and also quit the Baptist Campus Ministries (I was the secretary, so this was a big deal for me). I talked to the head of our campus baptist group when I quit. She was a deacon at that church. I told her that I was uncomfortable with the church views on homosexuality. I didn't say I was thinking about homosexuality myself - I hadn't said this outloud to anyone yet - but I'm sure she guessed. She said that did not think homosexuality was a sin and that she had attended a few same-sex weddings. That made me feel better but I quit anyway.

I read this article in the Atlanta Journal yesterday about the recent Baptist Convention:http://www.ajc.com/search/content/opinion/stories/2008/02/12/baptistsed_0213.html Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter are trying to convince Baptists to be more inclusive. And there's a groups of Welcoming and Affirming Baptists pressing the issue. Good for them for sticking with it. I'm not strong enough to fight, but I'm glad they are. I still feel something strong for this religion, somewhere deep inside.

Lobbying for same-sex marriage

For the past few years the state of MD has been involved in a court case in which 9 couples sued the government for the right to marry. It took years, went through the various levels of court, and was finally decided a few months a go by one vote in the state supreme court that same-sex couples do not have a constitutional right to marry.

In response this year a bill has been introduced that would make same sex marriage legal. We went down with some members of our church to a large statewide rally in front of the capital building last night, and then met with our state senator and two of our three delegates. We are very lucky to live where we do. All of our delegates and our senator sponsor the bill. The lead sponsor in the senate is our senator Jamie Raskin and he is very outspoken on this issue. We basically went to thank them for their support. Friends of ours in more conservative counties didn't have it as easy. Our friends A and C, C who is big and pregnant, went into a few sessions with people that said, basically, to a pregnant woman, I'm sorry, I don't support you and your family. That sucks. So we're thankful for where we live, and for the people who represent us. And we're thankful for the people that lobby with delegates that are unfriendly.

According to our delegates and senator, we are close to being able to get this passed, at least as civil unions. I'd take civil unions. Hell, I'd take anything, which is more than what I've got now. But I don't have my hopes up. I let myself get too hopeful with the court case, and that just led to depression. So for now I'm just watching and hoping C and her big belly made an impact on someone important last night.

Other people's kids

I don't always like other people's kids. All of the running around and screaming and crying and whining can get on your nerves quick. Some people love all kids, but I am certainly not one of those people. However, I think we've realized that we like our friends kids. If someone is interesting enough to be our friends, they tend to raise interesting children. The kids we like the most are B & E. B is a 7 year old boy and E is a 5 year old girl, and they belong to our friends J & S.

We saw them at church on Sunday. I walked up to the two kids and B said "We're drinking coffee. I drink coffee and non-alcoholic beer. Ask my dad." Then he brings his dad over and says "Dad, don't I drink coffee and non-alcoholic beer?" And the dad says "Yeah, but tell J why you are drinking coffee." And B says "Because it's too early for whiskey." HUH?

B had a Hillary sticker on. I asked if he was voting for Hillary and he said yes. I asked E who she was voting for and she said "I can't decide. Both candidates are so good." I agree, E, I agree.

These are the kids I want. They are fun. They make me laugh. They are well-behaved. They make me happy. How do we raise our kids as well as J & S have raised theirs?

Infant & Toddler Room

On Sunday we volunteered in the Infant & Toddler room at church. This was our first time. We thought it would be good to get more experience around babies and also lots of fun. There were three children - S who was 10 and a half months, A who was 1.5 years, and B who was 2. And three adults - K and I and the paid nursury worker Miss K.

These kids were so cute. K bonded with B immediately and they colored and puzzled together the whole time. Babies always love her and I love watching her with them. S has been coming to the church since he was a new baby and has a tight bond with Miss K, and cries when anyone else holds him. She asked me to try to hold him, and he happily sat in my lap eating cheerios the whole time, which surprised Miss K. I guess babies love me too.

Miss K thought about sending us home since there were so few kids but decided to keep us around just in case. I said "That's okay. We wanted to do this." She said "I can tell!"

S's parents came to pick him up, and chatted with K and I for a minute. We said we were new volunteers and she asked if we had any of our own, and we said no. She said "You should try!" We smiled.