Afternoon delight

I get annoyed at my mother when she talks about how "cute" an elderly patient is. (She means it in the toddlers-are-cute sense, not in the wow-he's-attractive sense.) It just seems so condescending to me, so ageist. (There were actually people of the Deep South who viewed black people as childlike and thus in need of the White Man's protection and guidance (and control). Benign intent; still racist.)

So anyway. Today I went to the Framingham Trader Joe's after I left work. As I was going into the store, I was just behind a couple. I'm terrible at estimating age ... they both had grey hair, but they were at the youthful end of grey-hair-dom. On the tall side, reasonably agile during my short-term observance, slender, dressed in keeping with typical suburbanites (she in a long sundress, I think). They were walking very close together, shoulders touching.

And when they were between the outer and inner automatic doors, the man dropped his hand down and patted the woman's ... rear bumper. She did not seem displeased.

I was delighted by this, though Public Displays of Affection normally leave me cold. And I don't know whether I was just pleasantly surprised by the unexpected or if I'm heading into that same ageist condescension I find so frustrating in my mother ....

Marriage ban voted down

Let this not go unremarked: The state legislature has voted down the proposed constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage. In order to make the ballot, the measure required 25% approval of the combined houses for two consecutive years. It passed last year; this year, only 45 voted in favor.

I am pleased to note that one of the nine legislators to switch from "yes" to "no" is my former representative in Quincy, Michael Morrissey. (My current representative is one of the gang who sued to try to overturn the initial judicial ruling. I had no hope that he might see reason.)

Congratulations to everyone whose rights (and, in some cases, existing marriages) are hereby more secure. Congratulations and my thanks to the 151 who voted against the measure. I am proud to be a citizen of the Commonwealth of Massachuetts.