We took the plunge!

We did that thing – we got married!  And!  In the process of getting married, I came out (sort of) at work!  But first thing’s first – we got married on Saturday, at a nearby park with a stream and some little waterfalls.  We went to brunch first at a vegetarian Greek restaurant, with all our parents, who had yet to meet(!) after all this time.  Then we went to the park from there, where 3 friends, and 2 of my partner’s siblings all met up to do this thing.  My partner’s brother officiated, and she and I came up with all the wording ourselves.  Everyone stood in a circle, we did a go-around where everyone introduced themselves and said what brought them here, and then we played a song on a boombox.  Then C (I’m going to switch to “C” instead of always writing “my partner”) and I gave a 2 part lecture on the nature of love, which probably lasted over 10 minutes!  Hope no one was sleeping!  After that, we said some “agreements,” in which there was a lot of laughing and we agreed on some things.  Then we kissed (a huge deal for me because I can barely get myself to take her hand in public), played another song, and had everyone join hands and do some hippie-like circle formation dancing and spinning.  It was pretty great.  Then we broke and handed out fancy sodas, like the kinds in glass bottles, and clinked glasses and took some photos.

It was very close to how I pictured it going in my head.  Which was a huge relief, because a hang up about getting married at all, for me, was that wedding ceremonies and traditions?  I don’t get it, and don’t connect with that, at all.  So we created something we did connect with.

Right after, we took off for a fun 3 day weekend in a town about 2 hours away.  We went to some restaurants, saw 12 Years a Slave (nice “honeymoon” movie pick), went to some botanical and herbal gardens and an arboretum, went to an art museum, went record shopping, and just relaxed and stuff.

So, nothing really feels different, other than that C can now get on my health insurance!  Wheee!

The thing that actually feels like a bigger deal than getting married, is that I told people at work about it.  Basically, no one at work knew I was in a relationship until 6 months ago, at which point I told my co-worker, my supervisor, and the head of the kitchen.  But… I’ve been in a relationship for 7 years, and I’ve worked there for 6 and a half.  And I’ve even wrongly implied that I’m single.  So finally, those 3 people knew (I decided to share because I was going to be working closely with them all summer, and thought it was time to be more open.), but there were so many more people I see every day and never ever say a single thing about myself.  Teachers, admin. assistants, the principal and assistant principal, the school nurse, etc.

And I didn’t really have a plan or goal to share my news.  I was actually planning to (by default) not share.  I started last work-week that way, and it just started to feel really shitty.  Like, I was about to be getting married, and no one even knew I’m in a relationship.  I imagined they could guess I’m gay (I’d prefer queer and genderqueer, but imagine people might think I’m a lesbian), but I’d never said a damn thing.  I wonder if one day I will come out as non-binary, genderqueer, trans*, ask for a different pronoun, everything along that line…  We’ll see; one day at a time.

So by midweek, I decided to take the risk and share my news.  I wondered, how many people would I have to tell before they start spreading the word and I don’t have to do the work anymore?  I guessed 5.  In the end, I surpassed that goal of 5, and told 10 (and I’m still telling people)!  And the word did start to get around; people were coming up to me and congratulating me.  People were gushing with excitement and wanting me to bring in pictures for them to see.  People had all kinds of questions about what we were going to do.  I got a card from the whole school with a gift card in it.  The first grade teachers pitched in and gave me a gift basket.  It was as if my dark and dreary, mysterious and reserved, shy and distant demeanor at work got a huge boost, and I’ve been trying to run with that.

I could be a totally new person at work (slowly, little by little)!  I even took my hat off!  (I’ve been wearing military style caps every day as long as I’ve worked there, and it was getting old – I was tired of hats, but I couldn’t seem to get myself to take it off.  Now?  It seemed like no problem!  Hat gone!)