Some thoughts on America

I've been silent for awhile I know.  But I have been going through alot recently.  As many of you know, I'm getting married this week.  Friday will be the day I join up with a guy I've been dating for the past year.  It's a time of mixed emotion.  While I am OVER THE MOON there are people I wish could be there.  Mom, Mag and Noel won't be able to be there.  While with Noel and Mag, I'll be able to check in with them in person thanks to the modern miracle of Skype.  Mom will be a different story.  I'm bringing a picture of her to take photos with and my brother sent me a note saying some nice things that really are helping me process the emotions I'm going to be dealing with.  I would have to deal with her wanting to be SO involved. :)  But the past two weeks have been very emotional.  October 3rd was my little nephew's 5th Birthday.  October 5th was twenty years of my mother's death and man it hurts just as much as the day it happened.  I am certain that I will live my life to the fullest in honor of her.  It helps thinking how delighted she would be with where I am in my life now and what has happened in the past 20 years with her children.  October 15th I will be getting married in the state of Vermont and the 16th I will be turning 28.  Wow, I'm getting teary just writing about it.  Adam did something amazing for me.  He bought a star from the International Star Registry in Switzerland.  He named it Maria Hefele.  The certificate got delivered on her anniversary.  Needless to say I lost it.  I was trying to drive to work through a veil of tears.  However, now I know for "certain" that she is always looking down on me.  Missing her though shouldn't mean I can't celebrate the addition of Adam and two yes TWO sets of in-laws.  I'll get the biological set and a step set.  

Another thing that has been on my mind since yesterday is the climate in which I am getting married.  Sadly enough, outside of Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New York, Washington D.C. and Iowa our ceremony will not be valid.  However, yesterday a judge in California issued a worldwide injunction to stop using Don't Ask Don't Tell.  The government has 60 days to file an injunction.  I don't think it will happen but I am hopeful.  I am also hopeful that this will bring someone's attention that DOMA (the hurtful Defense of Marriage Act) is just as discriminatory.  I wonder if by the time I get home from Canada or at least by my first anniversary I will be able to call myself married from sea to shining sea.

I'll talk to you after I go North.