Kentucky and the Great Gay Debate

Living in today's day and age, you would think that something as simple as marriage equality would be the norm. 

It's not.

I live in Kentucky and we are late to the "marriage equality" party. Tuesday, federal judge John Heyburn ruled that the prohibition of same sex marriage violates the Equal Protection Clause of the U. S Constitution. This is great, except that Governor Steve Beshear said that the state will appeal this decision, just as he did when Judge Heyburn ruled that Kentucky must recognize same sex marriages that were performed in other states, back in February. Beshear claims that same sex marriages "threatens the state's birthrate and economic development." [cite]

What about the tax paying citizens of Kentucky that are homosexuals? What about the same sex couples in Kentucky that pay more than their fair share in taxes and give back more than their fair share to the economy? Why shouldn't they have the same rights as other Kentuckians that are straight? I find it to be absolutely ridiculous and, as a straight woman, it plain pisses me off.

The truly sad thing? When news stations post about this issue on their Facebook pages, the comments people make are beyond horrible. "Christians" come out of the woodwork and start quoting their cherry-picked bibles verses. Sinners, people who have no problem living a less than Christian life want to come out and act holier than though. The argument is always the same...."God made Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve...." "God says it's an abomination....", all while their profile pictures display profanity or sinful behavior.

My hope is that Gov. Beshear loses his appeal and that my homosexual friends can FINALLY have the same rights as me, a straight woman. It will be a happy day when my friends can LEGALLY marry the person they love. Next step after that is same sex adoptions being legal. But I'll take it one step at a time.

Kentucky, it's time to wake up and realize how you are portraying your state that you claim to love so much. No wonder Kentucky has such a bad rap....look at the people living here!

Crash and Burn

It would seem that, even with very careful planning, even with the very best of intentions, things can often fall apart in the matter of minutes. 

Thursday, I was having a good day. The kids and I went to the library, to the park. We did some running around. I'd started reaching out and networking within the community. Life was good. 

Thursday evening, life took a nosedive and every hope, dream, and want I had went flying out the window. 

I won't go into details, but the series of events came with one heartbreaking realization. 

We have to move back to Kentucky.

Words: ©Robert Burns Photo:©The Momisodes

As I write this, I am still currently in Michigan. My husband and two of the three kids are on their way back to Kentucky. I cried about this, tried to find every possible way to make it work here. Every idea seemed to get squashed. As I wrapped my head and heart around the fact that I had to leave, I spoke with the kids. Fear gripped my heart, because, for the 3 weeks we were here, we had our son back. Would we lose him again? I spoke to them and they got upset, then got excited to get to see their friends again.

The Hubs and I agreed that we are going to make the absolute best out of this. We are going to work harder and fight harder for dreams we have. We have an excellent two year plan set in motion. We got this. We are going to make this work.

It breaks my heart that we had to leave Michigan. I love it here. But, sometimes, life has a way of telling you that what you love isn't what you need. Or maybe it's that what we thought was love is really just desperation for a change that I need to make in myself. Time will tell. I'm just thankful that none of us were really settled in. That makes it easier to swallow this bitter pill called reality.......

New Beginnings

There is a cool breeze in the air, despite the fact that my Weather Channel app reads 79*. I guess this is one of the many advantages of living about 5 miles away from one of the great lakes. 

May 29, my family and I loaded up a few belongs and headed north, leaving family and friends behind in our former town of London, Kentucky. We drove through Ohio and cheered as we crossed the state line into Michigan.

After a brief stop to visit with my mother in law and my Dad's mother-in-law, we made our way further up north, where my sister-in-law was nice enough to let us stay until we found a place of our own. Her house is beautiful. It's a 4 bedroom, with 3 of the rooms upstairs. That's where we are. The Hubs and I have a room, the girls are sharing a room and Boy Child is crashing on a couch in what could be a living room. This house has quickly become my dream house. There is a huge front porch, a nice back deck overlooking a huge yard, and there is a sun room. That's where I'm at right now.

I am at peace, presently. Yes, I suppose, as someone I know put it, the shine will one day wear off this penny. But for now, I'm at peace. I sleep better. I smile more. 

I'm happy.

This is a new beginning for all of us, even The Hubs, despite this being his hometown. We can live, we can laugh. We can be and we can breath. That's really not so bad.

In Kentucky, I felt like I was suffocating. I wasn't happy there and it wasn't just because of my depression. I just wasn't happy. I never felt at peace with myself, my surroundings. My kids, my family, my health..it all suffered. I felt like a dead battery, drained of any juice to power even the tiniest of things. 

I don't know what tomorrow will bring. I don't know what next month will bring. We may fall flat on our faces. But we had to try. We had to give it a go and see what happened. So far, I've really fallen in love with my surroundings and the time I've spent getting to know my husband's side of the family a little better.

I'm excited for the Fly On The Wall post in a couple of weeks (I couldn't give up my challenges as easily as I thought....), because I'll be able to share some pictures with you. 

Here's to new beginnings.......