Welcome to The Moth. I'm Mark Salinger, and on this episode,
we celebrate Pride Month with three stories all about the joys of LGBTQ plus family,
from long-term partnerships to raising children to friendships that become a sort of found family.
Family can mean so many different things to so many different people, but at their best,
they can be a source of strength and comfort in a world that sometimes doesn't understand or accept you.
First up, we have Gary Bremen,
who told this at a Miami Story Slam where the theme was, appropriately enough, anniversary.
Here's Gary, live at the month.
Four and a half months after our first date, we took our first vacation together.
And we went to the Grand Canyon.
And at the gift shop there, I saw Roger looking at rings.
Not fancy rings,
but the cheap mass-produced 998 Grand Canyon gift shop rings stamped with an Indian design.
We bought two.
It was not legal for us to be married at the time,
but those cheapo rings meant everything that a real wedding ring would have meant.
But by our 20th anniversary together, We were allowed to be married,
and so we asked 11 friends to join us at Biscayne National Park.
Everyone was wearing shorts and flip-flops.
We had ice-cold coco frio straight out of the nut.