Numbers

The boys and I walked down the street today in the little village near our house. We passed a guy who was asking for support to overturn Prop 8 (and if you're not a California resident or have been living under a rock, click here). He had his clipboard and his pen and an earnest, young face. I smiled kindly and told him that I supported the overturning of Prop 8 but that I didn't have any money that day to contribute. I thanked him for his work and we walked to the car.

"What's Prop 8, again?" Oliver asked, once we were in the car.

"Do you know, Henry?" I asked Henry. Henry just shrugged and said that he'd forgotten.

And so I explained to Oliver that men who loved men and women who loved women and wanted to get married to them weren't allowed to in California because of Prop 8. I told him that there were people in the state who believed it was morally wrong to love a person of the same sex in the same way that I loved their Dad. I told him that I thought it was not only a civil right to love whomever one chose and to marry whomever one chose but that it was also a human right and that I and Daddy both believed that. I told him that it doesn't matter whom you love and that I didn't understand why so many people would feel otherwise. I told him that I thought Prop 8 was wrong and that I supported taking it away because it denied equality and freedom to many people.

I finished up my mini speech and asked him, "Do you understand that?"

And he said, "Yeah. What is 16 + 16?"

And I said, "32."

And that was that.