 We've been together 29 years. 29 years, yeah. She is the loud part of me, and I'm the more quiet one. Mary's in my story. We're like opposites, opposites attract. I was born and raised in Verona, Pennsylvania. I lived there all of my life until I moved to Virginia. I've lived in many different places. Michigan, Illinois, Massachusetts, and then I ended up living in Virginia. My parents married in 1957, 55 years, I think. Yeah. My parents, too, actually, 1957 as well. I worked at a private school for kids with autism, and we had an opening for a teacher, and Mary came in. I was like, smitten, I think. And the connection that Mary and I had was so natural and so organic. We clicked together. Yeah, it was click, and then it just grew to love. It felt right, and it felt like a relationship that was going to work. We had a commitment ceremony in 1996. We were standing together in front of our family and our friends, and there's a deepness to that, to that moment when you say yes to another person. There's just no other way to do that except through marriage, you know? Our daughter is the best. She's 15 and a half years old. Her name is Emily. She came into the world with red hair, surprised us to know it. Right. The doctor coached me to deliver her, and I looked into that little face and I said, I'm your mom, and I will never deny you. She did. And at that moment, I realized the path that we have to take because in order for the state to recognize me as her mom, they have to recognize that we are married. I want her to be able to look back and when she has children to be able to say, these were my parents, not my two moms. I mean, we are her parents, but it has a different meaning when we're married and accepted. We have created family within our neighborhood. Everybody accepts us. What we need to happen now is for Virginia to truly be family friendly. I love the state. To leave, we could do it, but why? Those people who use terms like family values don't consider my family and that we are family. And that's the ideal situation for children, that you've created a family, that you've chosen family, and whatever comes, you're in this together. What would I do? What would I do without Carol? I cannot imagine what my life would be without her. Mary is my home. She is my center. She keeps me strong and whole. And without her, life just wouldn't be okay. Just wouldn't be okay.