The Marriage Trip

First, note the title. "Marriage," not "wedding." Not to imply that it was not romantic, or loving, or all that; however, it was lacking in a few of the usual "wedding" trappings. Like decorations, guests, invitations, announcements, witnesses, flowers, well, you get the difference. I mean, this IS the third union of this type we have had in the last 10 yrs. of our contiguous relationship. BUT this was the one that counts, federally, on our taxes, for benefits, as if we were actual, real, people and spouses, just like heterosexual spouses! It's a miracle! And we did it all in one day!

Okay, not exactly. We used several days' preparation, making sure we had appointments, proper paperwork, etc. Pat even created a travel binder (very awesome!) to hold everything including maps and reservations.

And then, of course, we traveled all night, then spent a day recuperating at my sister's. Which, btw, was wonderful! We visited Charles at the VA hospital, and he was in great spirits, and she outdid herself BBQing for us!  We did our best, but just couldn't manage to eat food for 20. She's got plenty of leftovers! We helped, though, by having steak and blueberry pie for breakfast before we set out on our adventure!  The blueberry pie was the best I've ever had, and she even emailed me the recipe (the secret is lots of berries, and half of them are uncooked). If you faithful few followers are good, I may post it! She also gave me a copy of my nana's crumb pie recipe, a depression era favorite. Some mixture of molasses, sugar, flour, all in a pie crust - cinnamony and delicious

Back to the main story: We got up early, drove to the Marin county courthouse, parked in the 2-hour parking lot, made it with 5 minutes to spare for our marriage license appointment.

I don't know how it could have gone any smoother. There were two very nice ladies in the county office that issued our license. We were the first appointment of the day. They just had to swear in a few county counsels before us, short wait, then we were the first ceremony they performed, at 9:30 AM. We had it out in the garden, by the fountain, and the herb bushes. Confidential license, no witnesses required. Pictures tnx to our iPhones instantly posted to FB. We were back on the road, officially married, even with a last name changed to a hyphenated thingy, at 10:30 AM. Stopped at Starbucks to pee and have a celebratory coffee.

Then we drove to San Jose, Moffet Field, to DEERS office, to see about getting the dependent military ID card. Our appointment wasn't until 3:20 PM, but we wanted to make sure we could find the office. Good thing, too. We got lost. Twice. Or three times. But we did find it. And walked in at 1:10. Amid multiple signs stating "no walk-ins" and "must have appointment" (and even one sign that read "no walks-in" for those who only understand hillbilly), we said, "Oh, our appointment's not until 3:20." To which the nice lady responded, "Would you like for me just take you now?" Of course, we said, "No,aff we'd rather come back later." SNAP!! Just kidding! We jumped at the opportunity, and 20 minutes later, I walked out of there with my pretty peach-colored dependent ID card that identifies me as an SP. Woo-hoo! Then we went to celebrate with yummy Mediterranean food!
Later that evening, we met up with my daughter, who just happened to be in town at a workshop/training thingy for work, and my step sister, who also lives in San Jose, has the same first name as I do, and is only a year different in age. (We had an interesting childhood, but that will be the topic of a different blog!) We had yummy Mexican food, after driving all over SJ, but NOT at the taqueria recommended by the young son (hence the driving). Finally turned in, exhausted.

The next morning, Suzie (the not-at-all-wicked stepsister) brought us breakfast in bed at 9:30 AM. Which is a good thing, because we may still be there, sleeping, had she not. The hotel had blackout curtains; what a concept. We didn't set an alarm bc our flight didn't leave until 1. Well, we live on a farm, get up with the sun, the chickens, the dogs who want their breakfast, etc. I don't sleep very well, so if I wake up and it's dark, I force myself to go back to sleep until it's sunny. Well, I was just thinking that it ws th longest night in the world when she showed up! Doh!

So, all went well...However, back at the farm...

I'm still on the plane as I write this, therefore, I haven't been home yet to survey the situation.  But Lorraine called the first evening, sounding panicked. No water! No water for the dogs, no water for the chickens, no water coming out of the pipes for the human! She was on her way to the local pump to pick up 60 gallons in her truck. Well, we didn't think we could be out of water, because we had checked it the week before we left. For those of you who don't know, ocean view does not have city or county water so we use a catchment system. Basically, we catch water on our roof and channel it through the gutter to a big tank. We pump it from the tank into the house through a normal plumbing system. In our case, we also UV filter it. Running off a roof and sitting in a tank is not to sanitary. We treat it with chemicals, but the UV light ensures it is safe from a bacteria standpoint. Well, bottom line on the water is that our brand new pump burned out some of the fittings and pipes, and the water tank was empty.

But, on the up side, a bunch of our friends and neighbors pitched in and were still working on it the last time I talked to them. And... The dogs are happy and healthy, well, healthy anyway. Hunny's mad that we're gone. She just eats and ignores everyone else. Geea also misses us; evidently she's been hiding in the bedroom a lot. But those little whore-puppies have just moved on! Kai's best friends with Lorraine now, and Oho is Panter's buddy. I can just hear Panter now, when we get back, "Can I have an Oho of my own? Pleeeease?" (Oho is Lorraine's sweet male dog.) Noho, Panter! No Oho of your own! Four dogs are more than enough! Maybe Oho can come and visit every now and then. I can compromise.

Well, hopefully they'll still recognize us.