Sara and Case are married. Really. Photo credit: The Waldron Photography Company
Well, we have defied the US postal service, stared right into the black hole of quantum physics, and now, as a recap, we stand in the County Clerk’s office with not only a signed marriage license, but Case’s car registration. We are winning! We will not be deterred!
Chapter 6
With our newly-signed license hand-delivered across the small desk right into the hands of the Clerk, what could go wrong? Case and I snap a photo, and march ourselves triumphantly out of the County office complex. I head back to my office, and Case heads out to slap a car registration sticker on his car, and get to work. It’s only 9:oo in the morning, and we have conquered the day.
Meanwhile, Sara, our trusty and competent attorney, is already at work. I send her a picture of us, and congratulate her on their second anniversary. As in, I mean, their second wedding date. Case: pay attention! You now have two anniversaries. Date #1 is the day you married. And today, wedding day #2, is the day we produce a fresh, new license, signed in black ink, and do not even think about mailing it.
Midday, Sara, excited to revisit the real reason we are doing all of this (to change her last name, lest you forgot), excitedly logs into the system to look at their newly registered marriage license.
Chapter 7
Now, let’s take a brief moment to return to the subjects we have covered. We’ve discussed marriage licenses; trivial but necessary detail that makes that whole wedding shebang the real deal. We’ve talked about the postal system and holes in the universe. I mean, why wouldn’t a marriage and ritual blog cover quantum physics? We’ve even talked about true love and looked at photos of beautiful people. Sigh. And now, we will talk about — humans.
Humans. We are quite a crew, aren’t we? We are brilliant creatures with the ability to dream up amazing ideas and make them a reality. Wheels, managing fire, farming, printing presses, antibiotics, cars, airplanes, computers. We are a wonder. But, I am a reformed Christian theologian, so let me also remind you – humans are also, well, how shall we say this? Humans are human. We are not infallible. We make mistakes. I could wax theological poetics on this, and many theologians have. We are not perfect. And computer keyboards can be so persnickety.
So, that delightful Clerk kindly took our license straight over the computer. And there, he, for all his humanity, set about the task of entering the license into the system. Bless him.
Imagine the laughter when Sara texted me to say that the Clerk had entered the date not as their wedding date, nor even the date of our visit to the Clerk. Rather, the Clerk had now given us a third date, created at random, that matched neither of the other dates. I mean, one fabulous wedding for one fabulous couple is awesome. So, why not two? Two is better than one, right? And if two dates are good, let’s go for the trifecta! THREE wedding dates, my friends. Case and Sara have three wedding dates.
At this point much became clear to me. First, that Sara and Case are among the most good-natured people I have ever known. Secondly, that such a saga was destined for my blog. And finally, that we must all hold Case in our prayers. Three anniversary dates. Cheers to Case. And Sara. And this concludes our Tale.
OH – and the original license? It has yet to show its face. Good thing at this point, or else we have four wedding dates. And a human husband can only be expected to remember so much.
Sarah has been crafting custom weddings for couples of all kinds since 1999. Sarah is a Ravenclaw, and loves mythology, historical fiction, hot tea, and cycling of all sorts. She is an ordained minister who believes in coloring outside the lines. Sarah has been married to her best friend, Joe, since 1994. Together, their greatest treasures are their two children and the marriage they’ve worked hard to cultivate.