New directions in your life can start with the oddest things, like Chinese food.
I was have lunch one day a couple of months ago with my friend whose daughter had just become engaged to a nice young man from Brisbane, Australia. (The first time I met him I was sure to tell him what a fan of Heath Ledger I was.) She said the couple was having a time finding someone to marry them as they are not religious and there are few alternatives civil celebrants nearby.
I made the fateful statement: "Well, I'm a notary public, maybe I can marry them."
Well it took off like a lit match in a sawdust pile. Before I could even think about it again the bride was calling me saying how wonderful an idea that was. So I checked, and no, in the Commonwealth of Virginia Notary Publics cannot marry people. To do so one has to be appointed a Special Justice by their local circuit court.
Hmmmmmmmm......a challenge, and one with a potential reward. I told the bride to be sure and have a back up plan, but I would see what I could accomplish. Calls were then made to the court, to a lawyer, back to the court, to the Judge's secretary, to the clerk, the deputy clerk. Finally all the right ducks had been educated. A special justice had not been appointed since waaaaaay back in the last century, for some involved it was their first time.
A couple of weeks ago I filled out a yellowed form and paid $19, went to the DMV to update my drivers license (long story) and it "went upstairs". I would try to check on the progress without making a nuisance of meself. The last time I check I was told they had my number, they would call me. Do you think I gave them a chance?
Over the weekend I lay awake at 3 am wondering what to do. Life is such a mine field, and we go tiptoeing thru it looking for something worth risking our legs over.
This morning I went by the court house non nonchalently (like what is the opposite of Nonchalant I have often wondered) and one of the deputies asked if I had come for my appointment. "Is it ready?" I asked, indeed it was.
So this morning, I, who cannot marry the person I would marry if I were so enclined, took an oath to uphold the Constitution of the United States, the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Virginia, and became commissioned to unite one man and one woman in matrimony. My first wedding will be this Saturday, 7-7-07.
Wulf, I'll be wearing the harmonica necklace you give me.