Gay Marriage

I've probably said it before, but my favorite thought on this whole gay marriage quagmire came from the Daily Show's Jon Stewart, who wondered if gay marriage were sanctioned...did it mean that we would all have to marry gay? Because he didn't think his wife would like that.....

The only other thought I have on it is my co-worker, who works a full time job and two part time jobs mainly because he doesn't want to have to spend time with his family. Which is rough, I know, and ultimately not good for anybody, but it's amusing in the abstract. Especially watching him volunteer for extra work so that he won't have to be home.

In my mind, I think of this guy very much as Al Bundy. Except he's not nearly as charming.

And I watch this guy, as he gets called two and three times over the course of a shift from home. Every night. In the middle of the night. His wife is calling him in the middle of the night. He tells me that she wakes up just to call him at his night job.

Here is a representation of his part of the telephone conversation with his wife from last night.

Him (picking up the phone): This is ______.

11 second break while she talks

Him: I know.

8 second break while she talks

Him: Yeah.

A very long break, almost a minute, during which he makes eye contract with me, frowns and shakes his head

Him (finally): I dunno.

Another very long break, during which he sits and rests his head in his free hand

Him: Then clean it up.

ANOTHER very long break

Him: Yeah.

ANOTHER very long break

Him: You don't have to harangue me like this...

A short, 10 second break during which I was impressed with his use of the word harangue

Him: Yeah.

Right after he says that, he jerks the phone away from his ear in surprise.

"She hung up," he tells me. No goodbyes or "I Love Yous" or anything like that.

I repeat all this not to make either party look particularly bad. We're looking at a very small piece of their relationship, and only from one side, so I'm not saying we should judge anybody here. If there's anything that I take from witnessing this conversation (and others like this one), it's that he talks little, she talks much.

But I bring it all up to say this:

Finally, he said to me, after hanging up the phone and rubbing his face with his hands for an indeterminate amount of time: "If the gay people wanna get married, they can have it, but only if they make it so that I can't be married anymore."

Take from it what you will.