Seven years ago today I woke up and announced to Clare that we were getting married. The Supreme Court had made its decision just six days before, and this was the first legal day we could actually do it. After 20 years together, I couldn’t fathom waiting one more second.

I called the town clerk and announced our plans. Could we just come in and have her marry us? She got awkward and finally admitted she didn’t feel comfortable doing this. Remember, this was day one of a new world. I appreciated her honesty. We came down and she issued our license and wished us luck.

Undeterred, I remembered a UU minister friend. “I know this is a little random,” I messaged her... She replied right away. Yes! She had an hour free that afternoon. She’d love to marry us. That was that.

I baked a cake and pulled out a bottle of champagne. My niece was visiting and just old enough to be the official witness. We loaded up the car and headed down to the farmhouse where my brother and his two sons happened to be staying—a sacred place that’s the whole reason we moved to Maine. While my niece picked wildflowers and decorated the porch, my nephews made us rings out of old bailing wire they found in the barn.

At the appointed hour, our minister friend arrived with a bouquet of flowers from her own garden. One nephew retrieved the family of mice from the dollhouse and lined them up on the porch railing so they could watch. The other nephew stayed in the living room and watched the ceremony through night-vision goggles from behind the couch.

Later my brother grilled steak in the yard while dragonflies zoomed around eating all the mosquitoes. After dark, I served cake and popped open the champagne and we all wandered back out into the field, which was now filled with thousands of fireflies.

It was magic, with none of the trappings I’d dreamed about as a kid. No special ring or dress or church full of adoring family. Twenty years in, it wasn’t about that anymore. It was about righting a wrong and securing all the rights that should’ve been ours for two decades. But much to my surprise, it ended up being so much more too. All of this, I celebrate today. ...