Cindy Meneghin And Maureen Kilian, High School Sweethearts, Receive New Jersey Marriage License

Get your tissues handy -- the long-fought battle for same-sex marriage rights in New Jersey has opened the doors for some of the most heartwarming love stories of the year.

Cindy Meneghin and Maureen Kilian are high school sweethearts who have been together for 40 years, having met when Kilian was the new kid at school from New York. Almost half a century later, the two are still together and have spent the past decade engaged in a legal battle (with the help of Lambda Legal) for the right to wed in their hometown of Butler, N.J.

Finally, after all this time, the two received their marriage license.

"Civil unions are not equality; marriage is equality," Meneghin states in the above video. "Nobody gives up on their family, nobody gives up on their loved one -- nobody should. When you love someone you want to be with them, you want to be protected, you want them to be protected and that means marriage. When you love someone you don't stop fighting for them."

Watch the amazing video above and share in the happiness of these adorable high school sweethearts.