The Tidbit

In October, my best friend in the whole wide world married her soulmate. They bestowed me the honor of uniting them in holy matrimony. Marrying Haley and Lydia was rewarding not only as a friend, but as someone who simply loves love. The genuine, true love they have for one another is so pure and could make even the biggest of cynics believe in love.

Part of my job is to oversee the Life section of a newspaper. A privilege of that is writing a weekly column that’s inspired by my life and sharing stories with others that turn out to be similar to stories of their own. They’re simple stories of meaningful moments in Life. Naturally, I wrote a column about Haley’s and Lydia’s wedding and my experience of officiating the ceremony. It ran the Saturday after the wedding, was shared to the newspaper’s social media, and was the same as every other week.

Every once in a while, I get feedback on my columns. Mostly the feedback comes via email or when I met readers in person. But I’d never received a handwritten letter…until a few weeks ago.

A reader mailed a handwritten letter to my office, with no return address, and had clipped the column about Haley’s wedding. Along with the clipping was a note that read: “Taylor, the devil delights in you!” Again, no name attached, just the lingering of bigotry.

At first, I was really upset about the note. Not so much for my own sake, but for the sake that Haley, Lydia, and millions of other beautiful people who receive unwarranted hatred simply because of who they love.

Once I cooled down, I felt upset for the sender’s sake, because their live must be rather sad and myopic.

Rather than soak in that upsetedness, I decided to find the humor in the situation and turn it into something positive. So, I turned the note into a sticker, and am now selling those stickers to raise money for The Trevor Project, which provides lifesaving and life-affirming services for LGBTQ youth.

So, let’s turn the hatred into something helpful! If you’d like to order a sticker ($8 each, which includes shipping), PayPal taylorleddin@gmail.com with your name and address in the note. Stickers will begin going out mid January.

For order requests outside of PayPal, email taylorleddin@gmail.com

Let’s let the devil delight in us!