It's Our Anniversary!!!
I was stumped so I asked Belmo… and he didn’t know. What question has the both of us dumbfounded? When did the two of us decide to spend the rest of our lives together? We can remember lying in bed on a cold winter night having a random conversation while the “ Quiet Storm” whispered in the background. We talked about any and everything that night… including gay marriage. I asked Belmo, “What if I asked you to marry me, would you accept the proposal?” He said, “ Yeah I would.” A ten-second pause occurred followed by my query, “Well, how about it?” Belmo accepted.
Fast forward nine months later and we arrive on October 31, 2005, the longest day of both of our lives. The two of us board an early morning flight to Toronto, checked into the Westin Harbour Castle located on Lake Ontario, and fell asleep only to awaken hours later to the anticipations to come. Around noon, we purchased the marriage license from City Hall and returned to our hotel room a couple hours later. We only had one hour to shower, dress, and meet the wedding party in the lobby. Now, the wedding party consisted of five people: Belmo, myself, a lesbian couple, and a female witness. Out of the couple, one performed the ceremony and her partner took photographs. Belmo and I wanted our commitment to each other to be simple and stress-free. We did not want any “hating-ass” family members or jealous friends corrupting our day. Rather than spending our day trying to cater to other folks beliefs and ethics, we decided to include people who either experienced same-sex love or embrace it. We also didn’t want to purchase a “Siegfried and Roy style wedding” with a check our asses couldn’t cash. Therefore, the service took place facing Lake Ontario, gathered a small crowd in the courtyard, and lasted about a half an hour. We concluded our day with downtime in the hotel room followed by dinner at Toula, the rooftop Italian bistro, which featured a 360 degree view of the Toronto skyline as well as Lake Ontario. Lastly, we spend the remainder of the evening lounging in the hotel fitness center’s steam room and sauna before we
said, “Goodnight” to each other. Every year at this time we reminisce about the choices we made together and without a doubt we conclude that we wouldn’t have it any other way.