How I feel does not need your opinion.

“All Americans are entitled to protection under the law

regardless of who they are or who they love.”

– President Obama, June 26, 2015

This morning’s Supreme Court ruling declaring same-sex marriage bans unconstitutional marks a victory for love. I can hear the chants outside my window, see it on the faces of my co-workers and feel it in my bones.

When Pennsylvania became the 19^th state where same-sex couples could legally marry last year, the federal judge that overturned our state ban wrote that “we are a better people than what these laws represent, and it is time to discard them into the ash heap of history.”

Today we are all better people. We have achieved marriage equality in the United States.

“The history of marriage is one of both continuity and change. Changes, such as the decline of arranged marriages and the aban­donment of the law of…

I don’t like to lie, I’m not good at it. But there are times it’s expected, even when they insist you tell the truth, like on life insurance applications. Lying is expected but never out in the open, never outright, not unless you’re in politics or border control.

I did my best to answer the questions in the life insurance phone interview truthfully and comprehensively, but I also had plans to make dinner.

And on the forms — the addenda to the original packet of forms that come piecemeal and require scans and back and forth and so on — there’s a supplement asking for more details on your drug and alcohol history, and very small comment fields to elaborate on times when maybe you exceeded the amount you checked off in the previous question, to please explain. And this could be the basis for a 50,000 word memoir, were…

Dragging myself to the keyboard has been nearly impossible since spring began moving in a few days ago. Winter, saturated with gray, undramatic weather and brittle temperatures, is finally in its death throes. I began to clear garden beds, a delightful task of discovery. Tulips and crocuses have made their way up. The lilacs and cherry tree are tipped with buds. Strawberries are tentatively putting out their runners.

This need to revel in open windows and sunlight and the sound of the earth coming back to life makes it hard to sit still. But writing demands it and I start getting odd if I don’t write for awhile. My eccentricities, which under normal circumstances might be cute or mildly irritating, get amplified until one day I realize that I’ve been singing Henry the Eighth I am at the top of my lungs and there are people walking their dogs on the…

One of my favorite workout songs is the Foo Fighters “Walk”. It’s a nice warmup piece, starting with motivational lines like Getting good at starting over... and I believe I’ve waited long enough…

What I like most about this song is that it makes me laugh every single time I hear it. It’s the singer’s crescendo to a primal yell of “I never want to die!” that does it. When I’m running on a treadmill at the Y, sweating along with a young, old, multi-gendered, multiracial, differing needs crowd, it seems like a great equalizer.

That’s why we’re all here, in this odd, smelly place littered with medieval/bondage equipment, right? Fitness, strength, weight, appearance, functionality, it doesn’t matter the reason, because when you strip everything down to the primal basics: We don’t want to die.

Except for the lady next to me, because if she keeps talking about her…