four years ago we jumped into the ocean and trashed our wedding dresses

today is a special day. 

while every year, the wife and i celebrate our years together in march, on this day every year, the wife and i celebrate the legal recognition of our family unit.

we got married on granville island, our favourite vancity haunt. and we just had the most amazingly beautiful day. 

we planned our wedding in august so we could be sure to avoid any chance of rain. alas, our wedding day was the only day it rained that month in 2008. 

but the rain always makes for some amazing pictures. 

it really was one of the happiest days i can remember, surrounded by many of our most favourite people on earth. 

including the boy. 

i was six weeks pregnant with our first little miracle (who, by the way, is on his way to being completely potty trained, three-year -ld tantrums notwithstanding).

(wanna see? reminisce with me here. our photographers are amazing. and our wedding day was purdy.)

see the kids in this picture? 

they have two moms, too. i had no idea the day i co-interviewed one of their moms to be my colleague six years that our lives were about to change. 

the long and the short of it is, it wasn't just that we became fast friends as couples and regular babysitters to their truly awesome children (who we love and adore), their little family was the very beacon we followed on our own path to making our family. 

here we are now, four years later: two children each.

celebrating pride 2012 weekend together

our little miracles looking up to theirs. the parallels are enough to make me weep tears of joy and pride. 

see, for me, my wedding day was so much more than just being married on paper - which, don't get me wrong, is more than i ever dreamed possible 17 years ago. 

my wedding day was about liberating myself from my own terribly challenging coming out story. 

it was about giving myself permission to love my wife proudly and openly in front of everyone i'd been hiding from up until that point. 

it was about claiming my right to start over, start fresh, and celebrate our new beginning with the people who have been there to support our fight and light the way to this future - the one where we're two moms with a boy and a girl. we are a queer family. and the challenges we're about to face, we face together.

happy wedding anniversary my love. four years later, the milestones keep piling up. everything, everyday is easier and more beautiful because of you.

happy anniversary, my children. our wedding day was a tribute to the hope and promise of the both of you.

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i know i've been away. i'm back. and i think i'm going to catch up backwards. starting tomorrow. you'll see.