To my lover, my friend, my family

With confidence, I can promise you this;
I will always be your protector, your defender, your shoulder to lean on and hand to hold.
I will never leave your side.
I will devote my life to yours.
Sometimes I may cry with you, but I will always be there to dry your tears.
I will have days where asking for forgiveness is all I can do, and weakness is all that I portray, but I can promise you that the feelings in my heart will always stay strong.

I can offer you everything but emotional stability, financial security, and an impervious personality. But all else...well, all else is love.

"So if you're feeling lonely, don't. You're the only one I'll ever want. I only wanna make it good..."

"Marriage is a basic human right. You cannot tell people they cannot fall in love. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. used to say when people talked about interracial marriage, and I quote, "Races do not fall in love and get married. Individuals fall in love and get married."
~Rep. John Lewis of Georgia before Congress
on the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), 7/1/96

The Ballad of Love and Hate- The Avett Brothers

Love writes a letter and sends it to hate.
My vacations ending. I'm coming home late.
The weather was fine and the ocean was great
and I can't wait to see you again.

Hate reads the letter and throws it away.
"No one here cares if you go or you stay.
I barely even noticed that you were away.
I'll see you or I won't, whatever."

Love sings a song as she sails through the sky.
The water looks bluer through her pretty eyes.
And everyone knows it whenever she flies,
and also when she comes down.

Hate keeps his head up and walks through the street.
Every stranger and drifter he greets.
And shakes hands with every loner he meets
with a serious look on his face.

Love arrives safely with suitcase in tow.
Carrying with her the good things we know.
A reason to live and a reason to grow.
To trust. To hope. To care.

Hate sits alone on the hood of his car.
Without much regard to the moon or the stars.
Lazily killing the last of a jar
of the strongest stuff you can drink.

Love takes a taxi, a young man drives.
As soon as he sees her, hope fills his eyes.
But tears follow after, at the end of the ride,
cause he might never see her again.

Hate gets home lucky to still be alive.
He screams over the sidewalk and into the drive.
The clock in the kitchen says 2:55,
And the clock in the kitchen is slow.

Love has been waiting, patient and kind.
Just wanting a phone call or some kind of sign,
That the one that she cares for, who's out of his mind,
Will make it back safe to her arms.

Hate stumbles forward and leans in the door.
Weary head hung, eyes to the floor.
He says "Love, I'm sorry", and she says, "What for?
I'm yours and that's it, whatever.
I should not have been gone for so long.
I'm yours and that's it, forever.

You're mine and that's it, forever."

We had to put Bear to sleep. I know he was sick and hurting, but it's so sad that he's gone. We have had him since I was 7; he was like my brother. I wish I could have made him better...

And my dad is going to Iraq in April. Three month intervals for at least a year. Three months away, one month at home, three months away... This is going to be a long year...