And so , having rushed the reader through 2008 at breakneck speed, here I am in 2009, back once again to contemplating love from a distance. Yesterday I mailed a letter to President Obama from here in New Zealand, including with it a copy of an article which I wrote recently for publication in a local gay and lesbian newspaper. I expect to post both here on this blog at some stage soon.

A man most worthy of our faith

http://www.whitehouse.gov/agenda/civil_rights/

When Cas wrote to me in New Zealand the morning following Obama's inauguration to tell me she had bought us both a copy of yesterday’s New York Times I felt duty bound to buy her a copy of our local Dunedin paper. The article quoted Prof Patman, a specialist in international relations at University of Otago politics department, as saying that Obama’s speech had ”offered a hopeful blend of the continuity of American values and the need for change to meet the challenges of a changing world.”
On the morning of the inauguration I crawled out of bed at 4am to watch the event live on TV. I knew our friend Allen was somewhere there in that vast crowd and I too wanted to be there ~ in spirit if not in person ~ when history was made and when the man I told Cas back in 2004 would one day be president was sworn in. I could never have guessed how fast his star would rise! But I have known the depth of despair my American friends have felt throughout these last two disastrous Bush terms and so I should not have been surprised.

Unforgettable!

In February 2009 Cas and I entered our ninth year together. Photos are hugely important to us both because we spend so much time apart. To celebrate our anniversary I created these collages using various shots we have taken of each other whilst together during the last eight years. Much has changed, not the least of which is my hair length and the undeniable fact that we are both almost nine years older! But some things never change. As I hope my collage shows Cas has never lost the ability to make me smile!

2008 brought with it countless unforgettable moments ~ the most significant of all being, of course, the election of Barack Obama to the presidency of the United States. This event brought with it a kernel of hope for Cas and I personally. During his campaign he wrote an open letter to the American gay community which you can read here:

http://my.barackobama.com/page/community/post/alexokrent/gGggJS

Hope has been the key theme in our lives since Cas and I met just 18 days into George W. Bush’s disastrous first term of office in 2001 and it will continue to be our theme throughout 2009. No matter what happens as far as gay rights are concerned under Obama’s tenure Cas and I will prevail. We don’t feel the need to make a New Year’s resolution around this issue because we have gone the distance over and over again and know that, beyond being together 24/7 , for us there is no other way.

And so Christmas rolled around

He did it!

I am not ordinarily given to snuggling up to the American flag but on November 5th 2008 I did what any other self-respecting offshore half of a same sex bi-national couple would do!

2008 brought with it elation on many levels

Our civil union in Vermont for which we were granted not a single civil right at a federal level