I should preface this by saying that Art and I have always called ourselves AREA, Inc. for Art and Rosie’s Excellent Adventures. Everything we do seems to turn into an adventure. Our wedding day was no exception.
Art and I started dating on April Fool’s Day (appropriate, huh?) 2008. We broke up and would get back together, break up and get back together. We never stayed apart more than six months…we just seemed to be destined to be together. In August of 2016, we got back together and have been together since. We have often talked of marriage, but the timing just never seemed right.
My favorite movie of all time is Somewhere in Time which was filmed at the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island, MI. Art has always said he was going to take me there on our honeymoon. The houses and garden kept us so busy after we got back together that there was hardly ever time to think about a honeymoon.
Early October found us with pretty much having the garden cleaned up for fall and were thinking that maybe we could start going up to the mountains and doing some day trips. HOWEVER, we started having some problems with the septic system and ended up having to do nearly $1,400 worth of repairs done to it. After avoiding a very smelly problem we were very relieved but worn out.
Sitting in the living room that afternoon, Art said that maybe this would be a good time to head to Michigan and just get away for a bit. I went online and checked the Grand Hotel and they had one room left available from then until the hotel closes for the season on October 29th. It was like it was meant to be. We booked the room and decided we would get married in Michigan.
A Michigan wedding wasn’t to be as they had a three day waiting period after getting your license and you had to get married in the same county in which your license was issued. We didn’t plan to be there that long. We decided instead to go to the courthouse here in Lexington, NC and get married on Wednesday before we left on Thursday for our trip since NC does not have a waiting period.
I went online and filled out the license application and then pulled the necessary documents together that we would need. We got up Wednesday morning and set out to get married. No big deal. No big ceremony, no special engagement because we have pretty much been engaged for 10 years or so. The magistrate’s website said they can usually find staff to use for witnesses, so we thought we would be good to go.
On our way to the courthouse we stopped at the bank to get some cash. We told the teller we were going out of state and asked her to please note on Art’s bank account that his debit card would be used in several states between NC and Michigan. It took a few minutes as she made notes on his account, so of course we started chatting with her. Somehow in the conversation Art made a comment about being from NY.
All of a sudden a very strange guy came over that had been standing at the other teller window. He was wearing a heavy coat (it was a about 60 degrees out) with shorts and flip flops. He still had a few of his teeth, but not many. He looked like he had a few adventures in his life also.
He said he was with his mother (who was still talking to the other teller) and taking her for chemo (she had a brain tumor). He began to tell us how we would love Michigan and that he heard Art was from NY. He had been there many times and loved it…..and his girlfriend had died there. Then he said she had actually hadn’t died there….she had died in the car on the way to NY!!!!
He said he was taking his girlfriend who was 39 to see her TWIN sister in NY because her sister was sick in the hospital. When they arrived he realized his GIRLFRIEND was dead there in the passenger seat of his car! He just thought she was sleeping! The coroner said she had been dead for 8 hours!!!! (This brought back memories of National Lampoon’s Vacation where Aunt Edna died in the car and they didn’t know!) The twin sister in the hospital died that same day and they had a double funeral.
His mother had finished with the teller and kept pulling his arm and telling him they needed to get going. He wished us well and left with his mother still fussing that they need to get going as he kept jabbering to us on his way out.
We got to the Davidson County courthouse and had a sweet young lady help us there. When she saw on the application that Art was from NY, she told us she was originally from NY. We laughed and chatted and then told her we wanted to have an officiant perform the ceremony there. We told her we needed to hurry because we were both 70 and had been together for 11 years and wanted to make sure we got married before one of us dies. The whole department was laughing. We were so happy everything was coming together. It was meant to be.
She then informed us that the Civil Magistrate only performs marriage on Monday, Tuesday and Friday. We were out of luck. She then said that the CRIMINAL Magistrate is available 24/7 and we could have them marry us. She gave us directions and we headed off. Time was getting tight because I needed to pick up my granddaughter from school in a couple of hours.
As we followed the directions we had been given, it appeared we couldn’t find the place. There was construction blocking everything. We finally found it, pulled in to a parking area by the door only to look up and see a sign that read “INMATE DROP OFF ONLY”!!!! I laughingly told Art that we should take our pictures by the sign after we were married.
We found a parking place across the street and went inside. Warning signs were everywhere warning against weapons, cellphones and cameras. There was button to ring if you needed information about an inmate. We followed the signs back to the magistrate.
There was a big heavy door with a heavy glass window in it. To the side was a buzzer with a big sign that said not to ring the buzzer if someone inside saw you. The lady inside looked like she would rather be anyplace else and glanced up and then proceeded to speak into her cell phone. We waited.
She finally pressed the speaker and we told her we wanted to get married. She asked if we had our license. We confirmed we did and then she asked if we had our two witnesses. I told her we did not, that the website said they could usually find witnesses there. She said no one was available. Crap!
We headed back outside. We didn’t want to have my daughter, Heidi, and one of her co-workers leave work and come help us out for a five minute ceremony.
There was a car sitting in the “inmate drop-off” spot. It had a man and woman sitting inside and I walked up and explained we needed two witnesses to get married and asked if they had time. The guy looked very uncomfortable and the lady said she couldn’t because she was on her lunch break and had to get back inside. Hmmmm, maybe things weren’t meant to be after all in terms of getting married that day. (Looking back on this later, I can’t believe I asked someone in “Inmate Drop-off” parking to witness our wedding.
As we started to walk to the street, two women came walking down the ramp from the courthouse. I explained our situation. It turned out to be a mother and daughter. They had been in courthouse filing eviction papers (they were property managers). The mother said they were supposed to meet her brother in 15 minutes for lunch, but would be glad to help if it didn’t take too long.
We went back in and waited for the unhappy lady behind the heavy door and told her that we had found two witnesses. She motioned to come in. As we stepped inside there was a very small area (no more than 3 feet by 6 feet) and then a partition of what I assume was bullet-proof glass with a small opening to speak through and then a small opening at the top of the half wall to slip paperwork and money through. She asked for our $20 and our license and asked the witnesses to write their names and addresses down on a piece of paper. The daughter informed us on the way in that she didn’t have her ID with her so we were praying the unhappy lady wouldn’t ask for ID’s.
As she filled out the paperwork, we joked with our sweet witnesses about being 70 and needing to marry before one of us croaks. The lady behind the bullet proof glass finally SMILED!
She then stood up and asked if we had rings to exchange and we said we did. She asked if we were ready and when we said we were she said “Do you Arthur…..etc.” She then had him say his vow as he slipped the ring on my finger. When he finished he leaned forward to kiss me. The magistrate said “No, Not Yet!” Then I said my vows as I slipped the ring on his finger. He leaned forward to kiss me. The magistrate laughed and said “No, Not Yet!” Then she said “By the power vested in me….etc”. Then she laughed and looked at Art and said “Now you can kiss her.” She looked at me and said, “He was anxious wasn’t he?”
So we thanked our witnesses and the now HAPPY lady behind the bullet-proof glass. Our witnesses went to meet their lunch date, and we walked back to our car thinking “Wow!!! We pulled it off! It was meant to be!” We then went to lunch at our favorite Thai restaurant and got home just in time for me to leave to pick up my granddaughter.
We may have been married by a previously unhappy lady behind bullet-proof glass who read the ceremony to us through a little “speak hole”, but hey, we did it!!! We were married, and just chalked it up as another adventure.
The next morning we left for Frankenmuth, MI to stay at the Bavarian Inn that Art had raved about for years…especially their home-style chicken dinners in their restaurant, and then to the world’s largest Christmas store (where Art knew I would be in heaven). After that we would head out for our special night at the Grand Hotel (my lifetime dream!). Another adventure was underway.
