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Para-rabbinic adventures

Flowers and celebration

On the first day of legal gay marriage, I called a florist in Cambridge and purchased a bouquet to be delivered to any gay or lesbian couple in line for a marriage license. The florist -- who seemed delighted by the whole phenomenon -- suggested that I sign the card with my name and email address, in case the couple wanted to reach me afterwards.

Today I received the following in my inbox:

Dear Rachel,

We were a "Couple In Line" at Cambridge City Hall on May 17th. We can not express to you in words what that day felt like. We experienced the profound quality of the historic step of gaining Civil Rights. But, as significantly, we also felt this intense support and spirit -- from everywhere and everyone. In fact, I think the tears started again when we received this bouquet of flowers from an anonymous good hearted person. We keep telling the story of walking down the street that day, holding hands and carrying your flowers and having every person who passed by smile and shout, "Congratulations." Too often we have had to wonder whether it would be OK to hold hands or not.

So, this is a long way of saying thank you! And, sorry we are so late in getting this note off.

We will always remember you.

It was signed by the married couple, two women in Portland, Maine. I'm so glad that my small gesture of goodwill was able to add unexpected happiness to their joyful occasion. Their email made my day; I’m a little bit sniffly, though in a good way. I'm so proud to live in Massachusetts right now.

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