Making It Legal

So, today we went to get our marriage license at the county court. Sam and I met there since he was at work today and is highly busy. I got there first and went right in to "take a number" to save us time, thinking there would be a long line that Sam would be frustrated about. I saw the sign that read, "Passports & Marriage Licenses" with an arrow on it. I followed the signs and came across two doors, one with the sign "Passports" and one with the sign "Marriage Licenses" still trying to get over the semi-racing heart that reminded me of the seriousness and inevitability of walking into the "Marriage Licenses" room. As I turned the corner into the room, I noticed there was no one there. The "Passport" room and even the "Immigration" room was filled. But, nope, no one wanting to get married. So, I actually walked out and made sure I was in the right room. I waited for Sam for a few minutes, knowing we would get helped right away. Then, I decided, maybe I should go ahead and check in. I went up to the little half-door/window, and the lady asked me to start filling out the paper on the table. So, I took the clipboard and paper over to the empty waiting area and began filling out both of our information. Soon, Sam came in, and we were ready to go!

We sat down together with the lady, very quietly waiting to answer any questions. No, we're not related. No, we've not been divorced in the past 30 days. No, we don't owe child support. No, we're not currently married to anyone else. Whew! Passed that test. (Nothing about love or commitment, nothing about wanting to be partners for life, just some legal crap.) Of course, when I first sat down to fill out the papers, I noticed that the papers were for "MAN" and "WOMAN," (yes, in all-caps) just making sure we all know that homosexual marriages are not allowed - only superior heterosexual marriages would be allowed in this state - another topic you should not get me started on!
Anyway, so we paid the nice lady, we checked over the license, and then she told us the procedures for returning back to the court the papers signed by the officiant and witnesses. Then, the court will send the certificate back to our address after our wedding; as she talked, she pointed to the little address in the bottom corner:

TO MR. & MRS. SAMUEL LASTNAME
OUR STREET NAME & NUMBER
OUR CITY, STATE and ZIP

Sam looked at me with a little smirk, and I returned this smirk. As we left, Sam was holding back laughter just knowing how peeved I was that they don't even ASK you if you're changing your name. No, I didn't just legally change my name by not speaking up, and it really isn't a big deal to get it sent to our house (the house in MY name) that way, but it's the damn principle. I said to Sam, "I didn't know there was going to be a Mrs. Samuel Lastname! I don't know who that is! Who is this woman who has your name?" He agreed that it is stupid on their part to not ask. I told him it doesn't upset me, it just really bugs me. He said it really kinda bugged him, too.

While the lady was putting our information in the computer, I had turned to Sam and made the observation that more people want to leave the country (passports) or stay in the country (immigration) than wanted to be married in this country (licenses). We both kinda laughed about that, just hoping it's not telling of any kind of doom we're in for by entering that "Marriage Licenses" office. So, I'd like to make a toast: Here's hoping that Sam & I did not pick the wrong room. Here's hoping that my pitter-pattering heart was solely about excitement and recognizing that I've given this marriage a lot of serious thought. Here's hoping that the ease in which we got our license is the ease in which we celebrate and rejoice in our marriage. Here's hoping that the government will not call me Mrs. Samuel Lastname anymore!