For love

Today for the first time same sex couples got legally married in the state of Washington.  We joined the crowds of well wishers at City Hall to cheer as the newlyweds came out.









Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn gave a speech that none of us could hear because the PA system didn't reach the bottom of the stairs.



A helpful soul with an impressive set of lungs standing towards the top of the flight summed up the speech for us, though.  "Mayor McGinn thanks you for coming!" he shouted down, and everyone laughed.  One of his staffers started making trips up and down the stairs checking with us.  "Could you hear us this time?  We're still tweaking the system," I heard him say to two ladies standing next to us.

The City Hall staffers and volunteers had a hard time keeping the media at bay, as they were all dying for a sound bite from the first few couples.  Kudos to them for all their hard work today, and the rest of the week that preceded it.

We got there about 10am and the first couples started coming out at 10:45 or so.  I forgot to bring my spare camera battery so of course the one I had in my camera was low and died at 11:30.  I can usually squeeze out a few extra pictures if I turn it on briefly, snap, and turn it back off, and that's how I managed to get this one, which has been the most popular so far:



Here's a few of the other happy couples:











There was one little boy who was determined that every single couple that came down the stairs needed flowers:



I missed getting a picture of the little girl who was dressed as a flower girl and throwing flower petals on the newlyweds. I also missed getting a picture of one bride digging flower petals out of the front of her blouse.  There was so much laughter today.  And so many flowers!  Everyone had flowers to hand out.


Love Triumphs by *dbvictoria on deviantART

When I came home, I discovered that my hat was covered in rice, too!



We left a little after 12pm.  I wish we could have stayed longer and cheered more, but the munchkin was starting to tire and I wanted today to be a good memory for her and not the day that mommy made her stand around for hours in the cold.  Hopefully this will be something that she'll remember, a historic day that she personally witnessed.

Congrats to all the happy couples, and love to all!



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