Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Oooooh Special

Today is our second wedding anniversary. Despite being very traditional in some ways (the stay at home mom, male head of the household stuff) we are actually pretty non-conformist. Hubby and I were together more than four years before we filed any paperwork and it probably would have been longer if the fact that we weren't legally married hadn't come between us and Hubby's paycheck.

In early 2007 Hubby took a promotion that involved a lot of traveling. He was going to be gone 2 weeks here and 3 weeks there, but we were going to be pretty handsomely compensated for it so at the time it worked out for us. There was just one problem-when I went to his home store to pick up his paycheck they wouldn't release it to me because I wasn't a "blood or legal relative".

Hubby signed a note and faxed it to his home store...they still wouldn't part with the check. He called FROM the office phone, confirmed his identity, and ordered them to release his paycheck. No dice. They said they would be happy to mail him his check at his current job site and then he was free to wire money wherever he wanted, and so we did that. For one week.

Do you know how much it costs to wire money?! Seriously. Not. Cheap.

After paying out $50 to send his paycheck half a mile away from where it came from, we were determined to find a less expensive solution. We talked to every HR representative India had to offer (oh yes, the company Hubby worked for did not have an American HR office...they barely had HR representatives that spoke English) they told us that the only other solution would be for them to mail his paycheck to his mother.

Who lived 8 hours away, and would then have to wire me the money. That's completely overlooking the fact that Hubby is a full grown man who shouldn't have to run his paycheck through his Mommy.

ARG!

So we asked our friendly yet nearly incomprehensible representative "Bob" [that's the name he gave us] to list any and all persons who would be able to pick up his paycheck at it's home store. It was a short list. Hubby (who was in another state), his mother or father (who were 8 hours away), his 18 or older child (Monkey was 3), or his wife.

It didn't leave a lot of options. I remember explaining this to Hubby and then saying, "Hey, you get home on Friday, let's run over to Idaho on Saturday and get married. It only costs $18 there, and then I can go pick up your paycheck."

Does that count as a proposal?

Hubby thought so. During the next few weeks I spent $210 and about 3 hours of my time getting rings and a minister who would agree to marry us in the park across the street from the courthouse. We invited only my parents, Hubby's mom and step dad (who have two daughters who were 3 and 5 at the time...obviously they came too), and my husband's two best friends that he has been friends with for more than 13 years.

Our parents of course agreed to come. Hubby's friend's reactions? The first one said, "Huh. I thought you were already married." The second one said, "Well that only took forever. I didn't think you were ever gonna do it the legal way."

Two weeks later we signed the paperwork, I picked up Hubby's paychecks from then on, and we all lived happily ever after.

That's why we don't really celebrate our wedding anniversary-it's kind of anticlimactic. Plus while we have only been married for two years we've been together for more than 6 now and I want credit for that in this day and age where most people separate after 5.

While it was, in our eyes, an entirely unnecessary exercise in bureaucratic paper shuffling-and even though being married on paper didn't really "do" anything in our lives, except of course give me the legal right to his money (woo!)-I would like to take a second of the day to say that I happen to like being Mrs.M. [Yes that is my new blog name!]

My husband is-and has been from the moment we met-the perfect, God-given other half of my soul and I couldn't love anyone more. He is my best friend, my partner, my sounding board, my protector, and my teacher...I couldn't be anywhere else except with him, and I love growing old and gray together.

And, sometimes I'll admit-the title is nice.

8 comments:

Unknown said...

Congrats Mrs. M! I can't believe you posted a picture! You guys are adorable! I really like your post. I feel like I kind of know you now. *i'm giggling at my mushyness*

Hopefully you'll continue to personalize your blog! I like pictures! I plan on getting some up this weekend, too!

Kat

MrsM said...

Aww thanks. That's part of the reason I wanted to make my blog more personal-so that I can get an even better connection with my bloggy friends!

Also-if you think I'm adorable in THAT picture you should see me now (future post?). In that picture I was still hanging on to the weight I gained when I was on Depo. At 8 months pregnant with our third child I am STILL 33lbs thinner than I was in that picture.

Still, I will always love that picture because the look on Hubby's (devestatingly handsome) face makes my heart melt every time.

Robynn's Ravings said...

Well, Mrs. M, however it happened I still wish you a hearty "Happy Anniversary!" :)

And I want to THANK YOU for stopping by and signing up to follow. Mind if I ask how you found me? Just always interets me but don't feel like you have to being a busy mom of three. And speaking of that I want you to know....

I never take following for granted. There is only so much time in a day and when someone decides they want to spend a little bit of that day at my place? I'm humbled.

Look forward to hanging out! :)

MrsM said...

Aww thanks. I found you in kind of a convoluted way-I went to the site of one of the people who commented on my page (which I habitually do) and then I saw a link on HER page saying that you had won hand made napkins...I saw your comment, thought it was funny, and followed to your blog!

This actually happens to me more often than you'd think!

I do look forward to hanging out at your place (you are hilarious) and I hope to see you around here often~I love bloggy friends!

Jen said...

My husband and I have been married for 4 years. We did the whole big wedding thing, not because we HAD to but because we WANTED to. Now the thing is...we, like you guys, had already been together for a few years..and we already had a child (and another on the way) by the time we got married.

So although we've recently celebrated our 4th wedding anniversary..I REALLY like to make a point to say..yeah, 4 years, great..but actually it's been 7!

:) Congrats to you!

Jenny said...

Cute picture! I was LOL about the one friend thinking you were already married. Too funny!

Happy Anniversary!

Muthering Heights said...

Happy anniversary!!

MrsM said...

Jen-Thanks. Seriously though-"time served" before paper-marriage should totally be recognized! LoL. I don't have anything against them but I never could have done the big wedding thing. I was tired and uncomfortable standing in the park for 20 minutes...an hours-long ordeal would have killed me!

Jenny-Thanks =) Most people assumed that we were already married. I think only our immediate families, a couple of friends, and of course Hubby's work, knew that we weren't.

Muthering Heights-Thank you!