12 Years Ago Today, We Said "I do"

A wild tide rises in the dark,
swelling toward the center of my being,
an unbidden force that claims the core
of every hidden longing I possess.

You appear,
a sudden clarity,
dissolving the thick veils of time,
as if the stars themselves collided
to offer a singular clarity of purpose.

I feel the shift,
a profound migration of the spirit
toward a warmth that defies the cold,
an internal solstice
where the winter of my solitude
is undone by the sudden brilliance of you.

The reality of us
is a vast resonance,
a song that needs no melody to bind
the scattered pieces of a life
into a cohesive whole;
we are the unwritten poem,
the silence that understands the truth
of why we exist.

It brings a sudden brine to my lashes,
this overwhelming grace
that a soul can find a home
within the sanctuary of another,
an expanse that stretches past the horizon,
only the surrender of the self
to the overwhelming power of the tide.

We are here,
now,
in this suspended moment
where the boundaries of the ego fail,
and only the infinite connection remains,
pulsing against the interior of the world,
a truth that needs no defense
because it is the only thing that remains
when all else fades away
into the vast expanse
of our shared existence.

Author's note:

Vic and I have been together for nearly 21 years.

Twelve years ago today, we stood on the steps of the United States Supreme Court and said, “I do.” it was legal in DC at the time.

A year later, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of marriage equality, recognizing that same-sex couples had the same right to marry as anyone else. Because of that decision, we were finally able to stand there, in that place, and make our commitment to each other legal.

Let that sink in.

Two grown men, who loved each other, who had already built a life together, needed a ruling from the highest court in the land before we could have our marriage recognized.

That was only 12 years ago.

Now, in 2026, just 12 years later, there are efforts to ask the Supreme Court to reconsider that very right.

A right that changed our lives. A right that allowed us to stand together, hold each other’s hands, and say those two simple words that so many people have always been able to say without question:

“I do.”

This is the United States of America, a country founded on the promise of freedom and equality.

Yet somehow, that promise has not always belonged to everyone.

We remember how far we have come. We honor those who fought for this moment. And we will never take for granted the freedom to love, to commit, and to call each other family.

Nearly 21 years together.

Twelve years married.

And still, every day, we choose each other.