My "wife" and I got "married" this summer...

[iamahaingttta]

Except we "really" didn't get "married".
We're a couple of heteros in our 40's, live in New York, and we did a domestic partnership.
We have no real reason to be "married" except that we completely are head over heels in love, and have been for over 8 years now.
But, we decided we wanted to publicly acknowledge that love, and we felt funny about it, since we have friends who have been together much longer than we have who are not legally allowed to be together.

We had a great party with all of our friends, where we "jumped the broom" and got really intoxicated and made a lot of noize.
A few days later, we went to city hall in Brooklyn, and did the domestic partnership.
The older woman who processed us laughed and said to me "you'll be back when you're ready to give her a ring!"
She just wasn't gonna get it, and it wasn't a day for trying to rock her world.
Then we went and got tattoos of each other's initials on our ring fingers.

The following weekend, we had another, more intimate party, for family and a few close friends. A good friend, who is an ordained minister (you can be too in just two minutes on the internet!) performed the "service." Then we took everybody to our favorite restaurant for a great dinner. We plan to be together for the rest of our lives.

Just thought you should know...


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jumping_the_broom

[RedLetterRev]

1. Congratulations!

Love has no other desire but to fulfill itself.
But if you love and must needs have desires, let these be your desires:
To melt and be like a running brook that sings its melody to the night.
To know the pain of too much tenderness.
To be wounded by your own understanding of love.
To bleed willingly and joyfully.
To wake at dawn with a winged heart and give thanks for another day of loving.
To rest at the noon hour and meditate love's ecstasy.
To return home at eventide with gratitude;
And then to sleep with a prayer for the beloved in your heart
And a song of praise upon your lips
--Khalil Ghibran

[Tangerine LaBamba]

2. Congratulations

So what's the difference to you and your wife between getting married and registering as domestic partners?

I mean, if you want the State's acknowledgment, why not go the marriage route, the one which has some obvious benefits that are currently denied domestic partners?

I applaud you doing whatever you want to do, but, as an old lawyer, I'm curious as to why you made this particular choice.

Again, mazeltov.......................

[iamahaingttta]

4. Well, we don't really care about the benefits...

...and we don't really care about the State's acknowledgment.
We thought it would be nice if the State saw that heteros were getting domestically partnered? instead of married.
Not that anyone would really notice.
It was REALLY the parties that we had that mattered.

I forgot to mention, that the day after we went and registered, a woman who I work with went and did the same thing with her girlfriend. Neither of us knew the other was doing that until after the fact. She and I have a new bond now.

It was a solidarity move, and if my coworker is the only one who that affects, it was worth the 27 bucks.

[Fovea]

3. happy handfasting.

love is sacred.