Family: Ain't it Grand?

Happy Father's Day to all you Dads out there, and most especially to mine! Love you, Dad!

A Valentines Day Kiss!

 A Kiss is just a Kiss. Or is it? 

This one made history a while back. I was giddy about it for days. I'm not gonna lie. But when it happened, I was crazy busy, and I never did find the time to go look up more.

Today, my first story goes live at The Ravens Crossing. It happens to be a YA LGBT Fantasy Adventure about two women, Morgan & Holly. I feel like a proud parent watching my babies grow up and leave home. Please go read it here. You can enter to win a free Kindle Wifi Touch if you do. In other exciting news, one of my favorite authors, Jordan Castillo Price, gave me the best Valentine's surprise. She blogged about me and this project yesterday. I was stunned and incredibly moved. Thanks Jordan!

As a special Valentine's treat to myself and to all of you, I decided to go look up The Navy's First Kiss story and offer up a little true romance, for those like me, who never did find out the whole scoop.

The lovely uniformed sailor is Petty Officer 2nd Class Marissa Gaeta, who won a raffle on the dock landing ship Oak Hill last December. The raffle entitled her to be the first to kiss a loved one on the ships return to Virginia Beach. Petty Officer 3rd Class Citlalic Snell was waiting.

According to the article in The Hampton Roads, these two fabulous women have been dating for a little over two years, about as long as they've been in the Navy. They met right after boot camp as roommates at their first training school.

Until September, when the military finally joined the 21st Century and lifted their "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy, these ladies worked hard to keep their relationship secret. During Snell's return from deployment only months earlier, kissing in public was only a dream.

"This is the first time we can actually show who we are," she says.

Adds Gaeta, "It's nice to be able to be myself."

While Gaeta already considers Snell her wife, they're planning for a future wedding. My advance congratulations ladies. May you have the full and equal rights you deserve! 

I hope you will enjoy Morgan & Holly's story at The Ravens Crossing. And may your Valentine's Day be filled with Kisses!