7 years of marriage

I can't believe it has already been seven years. Seven years since Mike and I tied the knot, since I married the love of my life, the man I consider my true and perfect gift from God. It was the best day of my life.

Marriage is not always easy. For me, it's so worth it. And I am totally grateful to be married to Mike.

Our wedding invitation read "We cordially invite you to a loving act of civil disobedience". Our marriage is not legal.  It was a simple ceremony in our church performed by our pastor and celebrated with 160 family and friends.

What Mike and I experienced the day of our wedding is something that has strengthened our marriage and us as individuals: a loving, supportive group of family and friends.

So many religions were represented by folks joining us, as well as atheists, agnostics, and a few pagans. It was a clear picture of the life Mike and I have, and the people in our lives that we love so much and are so grateful for.

Mike and I live in a world where many people believe that we are an abomination. That we are sinners. That we spit in the face of God and that our marriage is a sham. Believe me, we have heard it all.

We obviously disagree. And we have to give a HUGE "thank you" to everyone out there who has supported us along our journey. Your support and your love is priceless to us. Our marriage is incredible and it is made even better by all of those out there who love us as a couple.

While Mike and I celebrate voters in North Carolina are considering whether to ban marriage equality in their state constitution and politicians in Colorado are considering whether to allow gay people to have a legal civil union.

The opinions of those with political power and those who use Jesus to demonize gay people didn't mean anything to Mike and I as we got married. Our church, our pastor, our family, our friends, and a loving God was all that mattered as we promised love to each other for the rest of our lives.

When I looked around the reception watching so many people we love feast on vegan scrumptiousness (we served our favorite dishes), my heart was full and it has been ever since.

To the love of my life, thank you. To all of you who have supported us, thank you.

Thanks for reading!

Volunteering at an animal shelter

Sparks is the cutest little chihuahua currently living at the Max Fund clinic. I have been volunteering at the Max Fund for years and am there almost every week. About a month ago while visiting with one of the staff, she told me about Sparks and how I just had to meet him. The reason: he hates men.

I'm always up for a challenge and after being introduced to Sparks I realized that Heidi was spot on. Sparks wanted nothing to do with me, other than bite me as hard as he could (which he did not).

Yesterday I went and spent time with Sparks again. I try to visit him at least a couple of times a week. Little by little he is becoming more trusting of me and actually lets me kiss him now. He still growls and he still lifts hi lip once ina  while, but he is defintiely coming along. I am so excited because the way he was meant that it would be even more difficult to adopt him.

You might be thinking that this is all great but what about volunteering?

Well, as the title says, volunteering rocks. And no matter where you live, there are opportunites. They can be at your local shelter or at a sanctuary if you live near one. The options are enldess and every moment you spend volunteering honestly makes the world a better place. When I first moved to Denver I liked volunteering at the Max Fund because the training was only an hour and volunteers can just show up to work. That made it easy for me and 11 years later I am still volunteering there.

In those years we have fostered dozens of dogs, cleaned lots of cages, miles and miles of walks, and tons of hours just loving on animals who had never known love or compassion or havdn't felt it in a long time.

Those animals all have changed my life.

And remember, The Gay Vegans are planning a couple free spay and neuter days and we will need lots of volunteers! So keep that in mind if you live in the Denver area!

Overwhelming grief

On January 30th of this year our beloved Shadow passed away. I wrote about her life and had wonderful conversations with our readers about the loss I felt and the amazing gratitude I felt for having had the privilege of being part of her life.

Shadow lived a full 14 years before she met us. When we met her she had suffered neglect, but she was spry and loving. Our original deal was to foster her so I picked her up one day from a temporary situation and drove her to the vet for a checkup.

I will never forget her being in the passenger seat of my truck and once I stopped in the parking lot at the vets she walked onto my lap and gave me a big kiss. I said to her then not to do that as I was only fostering her.

She knew better than that.

Shadow was 18 when she passed away. The sadness was hardcore. I took a half-day off of work, shared with friends and family about my sadness and sense of loss, and moved on.

So I thought.

What I truly love about this blog and the relationship I have built with those who read this blog and support it is that I have always been honest about what I write about and how I truly feel about the topic or the situation.

The grief I have is still incredibly strong. Sure, I smile, I go to work and rock it, I volunteer, I love on our companion animals, I make sure my husband knows how much I love and adore him. Yet in the quiet of the drive home, the still morning in my office before others arrive, reading in bed at night or swinging on the backyard hammock, the grief I feel for the loss of my Shadow is strong and feels like it will never pass.

Some days I still think Shadow is physically here. I hear something in the bedroom and think it is her getting up to come join us. Or I turn the light on in the bedroom and immediately turn it off remembering that she is in there sleeping when in fact she's not. And so on.

I know the hardcore grief will pass. And I am way grateful to all of you for your love, support and stories of those you have lost.  I am also grateful to feel the love for another living being, and feel the pain that goes with not having them in my life anymore. The love I feel for this little 14 pound lovely is truly a gift.

Thank you for reading!

Fundraising is fun

My day job is fundraising for an arts organization in Denver. I have many times said that I have the best job in the world. That is true mainly because I love fundraising.

I'm writing about fundraising after hearing a couple of times in the past week from people with non-profits I support telling me how they hate fundraising. I wanted to give a different perspective.

Every group that we support requires cash to do their mission. Our local animal shelters, national animal rights groups, gay marriage groups, the local food bank, and so on. Without people like you and me making financial gifts to them they would be unable to work towards their mission.

Many of these groups hire development (fundraising) people to work on getting donations and other gifts to support the group. Other groups, usually smaller ones, only depend on the kindness and generosity of their supporters as well as an event or two every year to raise money.

If you work for a small group that needs to raise cash, or if you simply want to support a group by raising money for them, here are a couple of fun ideas:

Have a house party! Invite friends, serve dinner or just nibbles, have someone talk about your cause, and then pass the hat. Make sure people you invite know that the event is a fundraiser. These can not only be fun and can raise some vital funds, they help to build community with people who have similar interests as you do.

Have a bake sale! Friends of ours in the Orlando area had a national vegan bake sale. People donated baked goods that were then auctioned off. Winners received their delish vegan goods a couple days later. Mike and I won cookies for us and treats for the dogs. We loved participating and our friends made good cash for several local causes.

When making a donation to one of your favorite groups, send a note to your email list or a group of close friends telling them that you just mad ea gift and why. I am always wonderfully surprised when our friends and family make a gift to an organization we support just because we told them of our recent gift.

For your birthday or a holiday, ask people to make a gift to one of your favorite groups instead of a gift or card. Email them a link to your group's donation page. This is easy and again, you will be surprised by how many people donate!

I think that's enough for now. Simple ideas that are fun and can create good tings for whatever organization you are fundraising for. And remember that what might seem like a little money to you could make a huge difference for the organization you are fundraising for!

We would love it if you let us know of any fundraising projects you have in mind!

As always, thanks for reading!