Day 326: Friends of mine got married for the second time today. I'd known them for a decade before they had their first wedding thirteen years ago, and I was honored to be one of the officiating ministers despite the fact that the occasion was not then recognized by the State of Washington. Today I was only a guest, but if anything, my pleasure was greater. Today, in full accordance with state law, Karen and Beth were wed.
Many who gathered in their back yard today had been in attendance thirteen years ago to acknowledge this couple's dedication to one another; like me, some had known one or the other of them before they met. Over the years, we watched them make a home together, supporting each other through the rough patches and sharing in each other's joys. We had seen them nurture a niece, "adopted" as a daughter, raising her from an unruly child into a fine young woman. We watched them garden together and make music together, and we saw the honest love passing between them as partners. We saw in them a unity and a commitment and a strong sense of family values. We saw them, not as two women living together, but as a couple, as "married" as any of our other friends might be said to be.
Today, the State of Washington officially acknowledged the marriage of these two people, just a little slow off the mark to see what their friends knew all along: they were meant for each other.
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