A More Perfect Union We, the people, (we, your people) have gathered here today to witness you,

two people, stand before one another clothed in splendor, but naked of heart. With humility and openness before the other, we watch the fusion of your love as you come together in one familial moment -- after all whove come before, and before all wholl come after -in order to form a more perfect union. Can we believe you will achieve this? Can we conceive you will receive this? Yes, we can. You, two people, (whose meeting came as by-product of selfless desire for your country) stand before the other ready to commit your bodies and minds, laughter, and tears, in such manner that your beautiful laughs will ring as one (funnier for their combined goofiness); and the salt of your tears through out the years will run as one -- the sorrow of each inextricable and indivisible from the sorrow of the other: your fates yoked, united, in sickness, and in health, with liberty and justice, in order to form a more perfect union. As you, dear people, embark on this journey, know there will be wars (civil and un-civil) over toilet seats and Barbie Death Camps. Youll encounter blue states of sadness and red states of anger from time to time.

But every moment of your lives, apart, and together, has prepared you for this road every Methodist spaghetti meal, and each tune from City of Angels, Guys and Dolls; every film frame shot and Doylsetown door knocked, and each dance of discovering, and rediscovering the kindred in each other. So henceforth, no blues! no reds! you shall always be joined, combined and intertwined, designed, refined, and oft defined in a united state of being: your purple destiny shared, your love not to be dared, in order to form a more perfect union. Mi hermano Adams, and my sister Eh-Eh-Egg, may your love last longer than the things of this world, like a Strom Thurmond filibuster, or an Ironman screening with Marjories commentary. And might we, your people, be a light to your union when you need us, just as your love is to us today. Can we, your people, be Canada when you need a gentle neighbor, Mexico when you need rest to restore? Big Brother Britain when youre tired, China, when you are poor? Si, se puede. And verily, verily I say unto you, hereafter ye shall see life on earth as it is in heaven, as the better angels of each of your natures lift one another from valleys of despair, and soar to support each other with comfort and joy and by all means necessary in order to form and re-form and reform a more perfect union. - Steven W. Thrasher Mumbai, India Basel, Switzerland Taiz, France Brooklyn, USA Spring 2013