Dinah Shore / Terry Schiavo

Okay, so I'm just a smidge late on the Dinah Shore weekend update...

I had a wonderful time at Dinah Shore this year. I actually didn't go to too many organized parties,I opted instead to hang out at the time share parties going on all over the desert. Friday night was spent at a huge, gorgeous time share with some friends who were celebrating a birthday. Lovely spread, music and a cutie in the corner made for a really great evening.

The rest of the weekend saw more of the same. Miss Toni cooked for a group of 25 in her room both for breakfast Saturday and dinner Sunday. Sunday night in particular was a delight. Endless champagne, great food and a eclectic group of women lead to some interesting conversation. I'd let you in on it, but what happens in Palm Springs, stays in Palm Springs. *wink*

Now about Terry...

First off, the irony of the very people who are trying to protect "the sanctity of marriage" by denying it to gay folks but who are interfering with a man's right to let his wife rest in peace is not at all lost on me.

Secondly, you know how in the marriage ceremony a bride's father walks her down the aisle? Yeah, well that's not just something to do, it's a symbolic action expressing that the bride is no longer the bride's daughter, she's her husband's wife.

Having said that, Mr. Schiavo is the only person who should have been making decisions over his wife's right to die. That's why you marry someone..for better, for worse (it don't get much worse than this, trust!) in sickness and in health, yadda-yadda. You marry a partner, someone you grow rich with, build a life with and the person you trust most in the world to decide what happens to you when you can't make that decision yourself. It is for all these reasons that when conservatives argue that gay marriage will lead to polygamy, I roll my eyes. Marriage should be between one consenting adult and another, I don't need Terry and Shawn arguing over whether or not to pull the plug should (God forbid!) this ever happen to me...

...but I digress.

Terry chose her husband and while she should have had a living will, she chose this man to make the decisions over her right to die. Period. And unless her husband changes his name to Jeb, George or Senator, nobody else should have any say so.

I can appreciate how difficult it is for her parents to let their baby go, I really can, but taking Terry's feeding tube out isn't murder, putting the feeding tube in was playing God.

Check it: If you are physically unable to do the things that will keep you alive then you die. If you are physically unable to eat or swallow, you die. It's unfortunate, but it's nature.

And I get the other side: we have the technology and scientific means to keep her alive so we should, but then Terry only lives because it would make other people feel bad if she died.

It's a hard call, I know, but 15 years is a long time to be in somebody's hospital bed. You have to ask yourself: What is she living for? Just because she can? Is that enough reason to be alive? Looking at the same four walls for the next 40 years if that's how long you have left with the feeding tube? What if she's not even cognizant of the four walls? What is life really? Is it a beating heart or an active soul?

There are certain things that make my life rich: laughing with my friends, feeling the sunshine, summer beach gatherings, throwing parties, reading & writing, healthy debate, playing on the internet, playing with my cats, traveling, meeting new people...I don't know what my life would be like if I didn't have those things or I'd want a life. *shrug*

What I do know is that we have lost the very basic right to die without government interference and if that doesn't scare the shit out of you...it should.