Tuesday, July 1, 2008

Never A Dull Moment

It's 2:30 and I just found the time to sit in front of the computer for a few minutes. With Steve as the Cruise Director on this Titanic we call life, there's always some activity of which to partake. If you have to take the Titanic, you might as well go first class, right? I go along with all of it, marveling at his never-ending creativity and energy.

The day had to begin with some shopping, of course. We brought some old window boxes with us from the Arlington house which go perfectly on the deck railing here. That meant flowers, so it was off to Lowe's to buy the last of their straggly-looking petunias, and some soil. These purple and pink invalids will explode to sprawling life with the fertilizing, moisture-retaining dirt I get for them. Then of course we had to buy the things for his project for the day, which is installing lights on the pier. Conduit, wire, junction boxes and other electrical things most normal people can't name. (I thought I did pretty well with "conduit.") He's now happily creating another new reality while I do this.

While we were out, we did do one extraordinary thing. It only took a minute, it was shoehorned between Lowe's and the grocery store, but it felt huge. We had the forms notarized that will notify the State of California we are domestic partners, so that I can be included in various benefits from Steve's retirement income should that awful time ever arrive. We can do this because Steve's company is chartered in California. In nearly 30 years, we never even considered that a government entity, anywhere, would call our relationship anything but illegal. This crumb from California feels like a banquet. Bless you straights. The things you take for granted....

The weather is pleasant, warmish but with a cooling breeze. We took the crab traps out this morning to see what might be lurking about this first week of July. We'll check them tonight and then again twice a day for a couple of days. I hope I get as good a haul as the three dozen I got on the last crabbing foray.

And there you have it, a day in a week next to the water. Who knows what wonders the Cruise Director will come up with tomorrow? I'm along for the ride.

17 comments:

Mark said...

Hi Ralph - I'm with you on the benefits 100%. Why should anyone be denied the benefits of love simply because of their orientation? No one I know ever put it better, or more poignantly, than a woman I worked with at 911 who wished to have the same benefits with the woman she loved as I do with the woman I love. "Britney Spears can get married for a weekend, and she can have all the benefits with her partner that she just met, and yet my partner and I can't, just because we're the same gender?"
Makes no sense to me. Love is great, no matter what kind of pants it wears. God bless you both.

Ralph said...

Thaks so much, Mark. And that's so right about Britney.

Cuidado said...

Some straights don't take it for granted and have expressed and fought for fairness. Sexual orientation should not matter in domestic partnerships. Thank goodness our Canadian' government listened.

Ravel said...

Titanic? Do you have enough lifeboats?
As long as we'll have gay pride parades to show our 'differences', their will be prejudice...
Love makes no difference, this is what counts..

Ralph said...

Cuiado, you don't know how many times I've wished I was Canadian, or Australian, or a Kiwi...not just for the gay issue, but for the freedom that comes from living in a country with all the perks of the US but none of the burden.

Ralph said...

You're right, Ravel. About the Titanic: there are never enough life boats.

Anonymous said...

I agree with the benefits. Some things just don't make sense and that is one of many. Good for you and Steve. It seems you are having an enjoyable time, with many fun projects to do. The flowers should do well. Good luck with them. Always enjoy reading what you are up to. I know one day I will start a blog, just don't know when. Mark said to think of a title. Ha! I can't even get that far! So be it.

Ralph said...

Peggy, if the stuff you write about is half as much fun as what Mark writes about, I'm there!

nan said...

Hi Ralph,
Nothing reminds me of my "hetero privilege" more than having L/G friends who have been in relationships for much longer than I have been remind me that they are/have been without legal benefits that are so rightfully deserved. I'm with Mark.

Ralph said...

Thanks, Nan. We'll see what the future shall bring, as they say. The next thing to watch is that right-wing referendum in California in November, to overturn the state Supreme Court decision that allows marriage.

Anonymous said...

thanks for the day in the life
sounds like it shall be a glorious 4th where you are...

Anonymous said...

I was just going to write and you beat me to the punch but that referendum in CA could cause some real problems down the road. Keep those crab nets out.!!

Mim said...

Congrats Ralph and Steve,
"The things we take for granted"......
We really have no idea, do we?
Must feel like a huge burden lifted. GLad the CA ruling applys to you though although you don't live there.
Yes that is how our project days go too: runs to Lowes and getting supplies and then getting on with the good projects. Get some sleep too!
Mim

jack/andrews said...

You did do it! With potting soil and conduit in hand.

Kat said...

Ralph,
My cousin Jack and his partner Adam got married last weekend. Living here, in Massachusetts, gives them this legal union. It is a travesty that there are but two states in which they can be married. They love each other as deeply as any two people can love. That should be enough.

I'm glad you get a piece of that legislation.

Ralph said...

Good for them Kat! Now, if they just travel between those two states, they'll experience things like any other married coiple--escept, of course, when it comes to the feds....

Ralph said...

It is indeed being done, Michele!