We have been married almost 35 years. We know that for sure. We have never really needed our marriage certificate in order to prove it, we remember the ceremony, the people who were present. Even on this trip we were able to reminisce with Daniel who sang that day, with Tonita who was maid-of-honor and with Bret who was best man. We don’t have a lot of pictures of the day (We left that very evening and took the film with us; it later died in our refirgerator before we got the chance to develop it), but we all remember the day.
We remember looking into each other’s eyes. Saying our vows. Listening to Ron (Bret’s dad) pronounce us “man and wife”, and signing the cretificate. We were married on Friday, December 21, 1984. It was just before Christmas, which ended up playing a big part in this tale, although we did not know that until now. By Sunday we were in Abilene, Texas, beginning our life with the congregation of 11th and Willis (which you can read about in The Tale of the Old Friend). We still remember that afternoon in the church building of Cloverdale church of Christ in Searcy, Arkansas. We know we have been married for almost 35 years.
Several years back, when we “moved” internally in our house here in Belgium, we somehow lost some of our important papers. We have been looking for them ever since, but thought it wise, since we would be in the US, to get copies. That is why we picked up a copy of Shirley’s birth certificate in Omaha and ordered a copy of our marriage certificate while in Minnesota. We ordered it online, since we would not be visiting Arkansas. No problem, everything is done digitally these days. As it turned out, it was good that we order this, since it was also the only piece of paper that could prove that Shirley was actually named “Raab” (see the Tale of the Pssed Port”).
We had gotten news that all would be sent to Long Beach (which is where I knew we would be long enough to pick up mail). We even received news from the secretary at Long Beach that mail from Arkansas had arrived. Now all we had to do was pick it up. We had an appointment planned at the passport agency in Los Angeles for two days after we arrived in Long Beach. Then we would have everything solved.
This, of course, did not account for red tape, Christmas, a story we have not yet heard (and may never hear). You see, what was waiting for us in Long Beach, the letter from Arkansas, was not our marriage certificate copy which would help us at the passport agency appointment early on a Wednesday morning in LA, it was a leter stating that they could not find any record of Scott Patrick Raab marrying Shirley Patrick Walker on December 21, 1984 in Searcy, Arkansas. I still have no idea how they gave Shirley my middle name. But I understood immediately that this meant that we would not be able to go to the passport agency on Wednesday morning.
Rescheduling for the passport in Los Angeles was not possible. The only opening was in New York City on July 8 (the day before we would fly back to Belgium). More on that story later, what we were mostly wondering and needing was information about our marriage certificate. We still needed this piece of paper. How could they have gotten it wrong? And what were we to do now?
We re-applied for a new certificate copy and made sure that all information was correct. We called to see how quickly this could be sent and found out that it could take up to two weeks (longer than we were in Long Beach). Within a few days we had notice that our new request had been processed – a letter arrived at the church building…. Stating that there was no record of a marriage between Shirley Patrick Walker and Scott Patrick Raab. Once again, the digital demon had done its work. Or at least that is what we thought. How could they keep getting the name wrong?
We called Little Rock to get more information and that is when I met Tywanna. In the next few days Tywanna would come to know my phone number and name (“Well, hello mr. Scott”) quite well as we tried to get things worked out. In the end she stated, “I am glad it all worked out. Now I don’t want to hear from you again.” It was only because of her perseverance that we really are (officially, according to Arkansas) married.
Through several days of telephone tag, calling to Searcy, back to Little Rock, and back to Searcy we weer able to find the correct record (which could not be found in Little Rock). It was Monday, July 1 at almost 4:30 pm. July 4th everything would be closed and we would leave Long Beach on July 5th. This was our last chance. Tywanna made sure it all got off on time. What arrived was incorrect.
We found out that: 1) the person who filed our information at city hall in Searcy did a sloppy job. Our names were incorrect, our birthdates were all the same, even the date that it was filed was impossible (filed as January 1, 1984 – when the marriage date was clearly stated as December 21, 1984). That is a story we may never hear, but the filing was made on December 24 – Christmas eve and a Monday. What it meant was that we had to call Tywanna again. She was not happy, but she got right onto it.
We called the clerk in Searcy again and she fixed everything while I waited on the phone and then faxed it to Tywanna. Tywanna had to go to another part of the office to find the person to Fed-Ex it to us, but by now it would not make it to us in Long Beach. It was already July 3rd. So we had to have it sent to Sean’s address in New York City. He lives in a warehouse. We prayed that all would go well and arrive on time. More importantly, that it would be correct.
Before we arrived in New York on the 5th we received notice from Sean that all had arrived safely. We were finally officially married! Mind you, we had had a marriage certificate which was correct since the day we were married. Somehow, that offical piece of paper, which we still hope to find, never made it into the archives of Searcy or Little Rock, Arkansas. But it’s there now. We are so thankful for Tywanna (she went above and beyond) but we are more than thankful for the almost 35 years we have been together – with and without red tape.
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