My husband and I had our marriage blessed by the Catholic Church

My husband and I started dating when we were wee babies. It was our first month of college. He was nineteen, I was eighteen. He kissed me. I asked if that meant I was his girlfriend. He said yes. It’s been fifteen years.

Neither of us were much into the whole wedding thing, but both of us were very into the whole marriage thing. We always knew we were meant for one another, and we were committed to each other. So in 2011, after eight years of dating, we decided to elope to city hall.

It was very romantic, and very us. We found a nocturnal wedding ring designer who made us a pair of titanium bands overnight. His parents got us a fancy hotel in the city and my parents got us a fancy dinner downtown. My sister and brother-in-law went out with us for a bachelor/bachelorette party at a transvestite bar in San Francisco, and the next morning we were married at San Francisco City Hall.

This year, as we celebrated our fifteenth anniversary as a couple (because we still celebrate the dating one) we decided to make it official by having our marriage blessed by the Catholic Church.

Marriage is an interesting thing. To the courts it means our physical properties are bound together. To the church it means our spirits are bound to one another. But to us, it means we will be with each other forever, both physically and spiritually.

In our minds, we’ve been married ever since we exchanged “I love yous” about three months into our relationship. We had discussed those words and what they meant to us early on, so that by the time we spoke them out loud, we both knew we were committing to be together forever. And we still are.

So on October 26th, 2018, my husband and I had our marriage blessed by the Catholic Church. We went to The Cathedral of the Madeleine with two of our good friends, and the priest spoke words over our marriage, gave us communion, and renewed our vows to one another. Then we went to our favorite bar and celebrated with good friends. It was truly a night to remember.

“Entreat me not to leave you, Or to turn back from following after you; For wherever you go, I will go; And wherever you lodge, I will lodge; Your people shall be my people, And your God, my God. Where you die, I will die, And there will I be buried. The Lord do so to me, and more also, If anything but death parts you and me.”

Ruth 1:16-17