It really fills my heart with joy when I hear a good love story, and I am especially happy to hear it from my friends. This past weekend one of my friends told me how she hates when her fiance makes the bacon flavored sausages he likes to eat for breakfast. She wakes up smelling the bacon and wants it, except there is never bacon only sausages! She does not like to touch the raw meat so she never makes the bacon for herself. “Why can’t we have some pancakes and bacon for breakfast once in a while?”

So of course she starts to get mad when she comes down the stairs, following the delicious aroma of bacon that teases her constantly. Was it sausages? NOPE!!! Heartshaped pancakes and bacon! Real bacon! He made her a special breakfast because he said it was her special day. The first time she will try on her wedding dress! Awwwww..

Del Martin [left] and Phyllis Lyon were the first couple to be married in San Francisco as same-sex marriages become legal in a landmark move in California

Same-sex couple Ariel Owens [right] and his spouse Joseph Barham walk arm in arm after they were married at San Francisco City Hall

Shortly after California announced its same-sex marriage ruling, openly gay actor George Takei (Star Trek, Heroes) announced that he would marry his longtime love, Brad Altman.

On Tuesday, Takei, 71, and Altman, 54, receive their marriage license in West Holywood.

A spokesman for the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation said, “We are grateful that George and Brad are putting a public face on marriage, and are so willing to share their story during the coming days with millions.”

[source: Just Jared]

Clarke was the author of a multitude of science fiction novels, short stories, and other pieces  - such as Childhood’s End, The Nine Billion Names of God, Rendezvous with Rama, and The Songs of Distant Earth.  His achievements far exceed anything that could be summed up here, but if you have never read anything by him, I strongly suggest that you pick up at least one or two of his books.  They offer so much more than simple literary entertainment.  His writing is engaging and not so lofty as to be inaccessible to people who don’t necessarily love to read.

 For a better and longer look at his life and work, please read this article from the Boston Globe.