authority

These are the steps I have to go through to get a marriage license in the state of Louisiana:

• Have a current driver's license or passport (check)
• Have a certified copy of a birth certificate (uh... due to an overly complicated website, I'll be calling the Florida Department of Vital Statistics tomorrow, since I don't need a commemorative birth certificate... or a road trip to Jacksonville)
• my social security number (not a card (?), just to know the number) (check!)
• a completed application to obtain an Orleans Parish Marriage License

The marriage license fee is $27.50 + $5 per copy that we wish to have in cash or check only. 

Licenses are valid for between 72 hours and 30 days.

They are only issued between 8:15am and 3:15pm in downtown or between 9am and 3pm in Algiers, Monday through Friday. We both have to go unless I want to notarize my application separately. 

Kind of makes you rethink love, huh? 

It would be convenient if waiting periods to get married were the same as they are to get divorced. I'm not sure why the state of Louisiana thinks it knows me well enough to marry me within three days and then keep me married for six months if we don't have children and for twelve months if we do. 

But, then again, the state of Louisiana has a disdainful record of doing what's best for women, families, and children.

I'm irritated that we have to get a marriage license. Necessarily, other licenses require tests (driving), education (medical/legal), background checks (guns), all manner of safety permits (selling alcohol)... but a license to marry?!

My commitment is to my God, my husband, and our families. It has nothing to do with the state of Louisiana. And the more I think about how intimate and reverent the matrimonial ceremony is, the more irritated I get about having to involve four government agencies across two states, business hours, and a prescribed waiting period.

I have waited a long time.

I know that he is the right choice for me.

I look forward to committing myself to him, to my family, to our God.

And, hey, I get a certified copy of my birth certificate out of it, too.