This Feminista Got Hitched!

It's true. Za and I headed over to the District Justice yesterday at around 3 pm to get married. We didn't have our families there because we fully intend to have a real, bonafide wedding next year at the same time. But, well, as my baby girl's due date is rapidly approaching, I got to thinking that I would rather we be married before her birth than after her birth. I am not sure all the complicated reasons that went into the decision. Mostly I wanted to avoid awkward paperwork at the hospital to establish paternity (if we are married the hospital assumes that Za is the father--go figure!).

In any case, our civil marriage turned out to be rather religious. I picked a courthouse in a different county, because (a) it was near my favorite restaurant and (b) I knew the judge from a hearing I had been a witness to back in the fall. Last January (2006), I was out protesting Alito's nomination and celebrating Roe in the square of my little town, when one of the protestors was arrested (see post). Several months later, an ACLU attorney decided to challenge a borough ordinance that prohibited people from protesting without first getting insurance (violation of 1st amendment). The District Justice who married us yesterday sided with us in that case, and so I thought that was a good endorsement for a local justice.

Nonetheless, we got a lot of God in our 5 minute ceremony. If God was going to come up, I wanted to pick who would share that message, not have a local judge do so. Oh well. I still got choked up when we said our "I dos." The rings we ordered had not yet arrived from Denmark, but we were rescued by Funkfoot, who gave me a ring to put on Za and we used my engagement ring. Luckily, the judge laughed with us and seemed to be in good humor.

So, I woke up a married woman for the first time in my life this morning. So much change, so quickly. But, it is exhilirating.


P.S. It was far too tempting to show up with a shotgun at this wedding! The big pregnant belly and a tiny courthouse near Dover, PA was just too much.