Published on October 20th, 2004.
Viewed 1371 times.
Story rank of 23.
What do you REALLY need to be married?
My fiance and I were both active duty in the Air Force when he proposed. I began to plan a beautiful wedding, but then found out that once he completed tech school, he was being stationed in Korea. We had no idea when we would see each other again after that, and didn't want to wait. My tech school ended before his did, so I drove overnight with a friend from Sheppard AFB in Wichita Falls, TX to Hurlburt Field AFB in Destin, FL. Adam made an appointment for us (the last of the day) on Friday afternoon at the courthouse. His aunt and uncle were coming to be our witnesses. Adam got out of school early, we quickly changed, and rushed to the courthouse in order to make our appointment. As we walked into the building, Adam pulled his wallet out, saying "Ok, I've got my driver's license, birth certificate..." I stopped listening, and reached for my wallet in my back pocket. That's when I realized my dress didn't have a back pocket, and my entire wallet was in my jeans on the hotel room floor. "Uh, oh," was all I could manage to say. "What does Uh, oh, mean?" Adam replied. When I explained what I had done, he freaked. I tried to calm him down by saying, "May be they'll do it without it." I didn't believe it, but I had to say something. We went inside and met his aunt and uncle, and the court would do the paperwork. They said all we needed to actually be married was a notary. So while Adam drove like a mad man back to base to retrieve my wallet, his aunt and I each sat down with a phonebook and cellphone, and started trying to find the closest notary that was available on late Friday afternoon (did I mention this was Labor Day weekend?). We managed to find one...at Mailboxes, Etc. down the street. So when Adam returned, we all got into our vehicles and raced to the store. The poor elderly gentleman behind the counter seemed a little taken aback by our request, but he found the folded piece of paper on which his script was typed, and my husband and I were joined in matrimony in front of a backdrop of antique looking mailboxes. It actually turned out to be helpful, because we were able to purchase the stamp and mail the paperwork all in the same place! Afterwards, when we explained to aghast friends and family what had happened, our reply was always, "Hey, it's official!"
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