{"id":2780,"date":"2015-07-05T13:46:24","date_gmt":"2015-07-05T20:46:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rayivey.com.php5-21.dfw1-1.websitetestlink.com\/wordpress\/?p=2780"},"modified":"2015-07-15T15:44:06","modified_gmt":"2015-07-15T22:44:06","slug":"scandirayvia-13-garbo-and-scotus-and-me","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.rayivey.com\/wordpress\/scandirayvia-13-garbo-and-scotus-and-me\/","title":{"rendered":""},"content":{"rendered":"\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"rss\"<\/a>\"instagram\"<\/a>

It seemed like everyone felt Friday, June 26, was going to be the big day.\u00a0 The U.S. Supreme Court was running out of time to announce its decision on Obergefell vs. Hodges<\/em><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Sweden is six hours ahead of Washington, DC, so I mostly just had to stew for the first several hours of my Friday as the US slept. \u00a0By the afternoon I was on a lovely boat tour of the archipelago around Stockholm. \u00a0The boat had good wifi access, and I couldn’t stop looking at my phone. \u00a0Has it happened? \u00a0HAS IT HAPPENED?!!<\/em><\/p>\n

It wasn’t just me. \u00a0As the afternoon approached, Facebook started going crazy with anticipation.\u00a0 I started seeing \u201cGo, SCOTUS!!\u201d posts everywhere.\u00a0 I added my two cents:<\/p>\n

\"SCOTUS<\/a><\/p>\n

I had barely finished posting that when I got a FB message from my friend Charles:<\/p>\n

\"Charles<\/a><\/p>\n

ZOMG.\u00a0 The moment I had been waiting for, the moment so many had been waiting for, was finally here!\u00a0 And I was alone on a boat in Sweden.\u00a0 Now, that\u2019s not a bad thing, and of course I realize it was a great privilege to be able to be on a boat in Sweden.<\/p>\n

\"garbo\"<\/a><\/p>\n

But in that moment, I really needed to celebrate. I had to talk about it.<\/p>\n

There was a table of men in front of me who I had heard speaking English.\u00a0 I interrupted their conversation, apologized and explained that I just had to tell someone the news in person.\u00a0 They were very nice.\u00a0 \u201cWhat does this mean for you?\u201d they asked.\u00a0 \u201cWell, all I need is a date!\u201d I replied.<\/p>\n

By this time Facebook was absolutely exploding with rainbows.\u00a0 I soaked up all of the jubilant posts like a recently-released death camp victim let loose in a grocery store.<\/p>\n

I had fully expected this to happen while I was on my trip, but I realized that spending the evening alone was simply not an acceptable idea.\u00a0 I got back online and put out the call for help:<\/p>\n

\"finding<\/a><\/p>\n

My friend Joakim Zetterberg came to the rescue.\u00a0 He connected me with a very nice guy named Shannon Kile.\u00a0 Shannon was getting together Friday evening with \u201can international group of friends\u201d and I was invited to join.<\/p>\n

I almost didn\u2019t go.\u00a0 I got back to the hotel room, tired and glued to Facebook.\u00a0 There was the President ecstatically receiving the phone call with the news about the decision!\u00a0 There was the right-wing going crazy!\u00a0 There were all the clever new memes detonating all over social media!\u00a0 Things like this:<\/p>\n

\"those<\/a><\/p>\n

I thought, I\u2019m just going to sit here and relax.\u00a0 And soak in Facebook\u2019s unicorn rainbow party.<\/p>\n

Then, thank goodness, I thought, \u201cYou idiot<\/em>.\u00a0 You\u2019ve been invited to join some nice Swedish gay folks to help you celebrate this incredible day.\u201d\u00a0 I showered, got dressed and headed out to join Shannon and his friends.<\/p>\n

And what a good decision that turned out to be.\u00a0 Shannon and his buddies couldn\u2019t have been nicer or more welcoming.\u00a0 We toasted the SCOTUS decision over and over.\u00a0 We talked about Bergman and history and America and children\u2019s books and Stockholm.<\/p>\n

It was also a very cool place, called\u00a0M\u00e4larpaviljongen, and it was right on the water not very far from my hotel. \u00a0It was a joint\u00a0that sits on pontoons right on the water on the south shore of Kungsholmen, \u00a0one of Stockholm\u2019s major islands.<\/p>\n

And something else really interesting happened at the bar that I\u2019ll tell you about in a later post.<\/em><\/p>\n

Anyway, we closed the bar down and I walked back to the hotel, exhausted but still jubilant and jazzed and jolly.<\/p>\n

\"Here's<\/a>
Here’s the cool bar where we met (shot from the bluffs of the island of Soldermalm).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Even though I missed my friends terribly on this special night, I was thrilled that I had been able to properly celebrate this most special of days.<\/p>\n

Average Rating: 4.7<\/span> out of 5<\/span> based on 290<\/span> user reviews.<\/span><\/div><\/p>

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