Lord willing, I did a wedding yesterday, a very small affair in the Lounge. I hope it was a lovely little ceremony. It’s nice and quiet around here this weekend.
Anyway, over the months of our time together, I’ve been encouraging them to contact Los Angeles County and get a wedding license. I pretty much harangued them. A week ago, we met for the last time, and they still didn’t have a license. They said they had tried and tried to get a license but failed every time. I couldn’t believe it, actually. So, we sat in my office and filled out the form online. Together. That took a while, but eventually we made it to the “Request an Appointment” button. Ok, here we go. This should be easy.
Uh, there were no appointments available to pick up a license this week. Or next. Or in all of December. Seriously? What’s a couple supposed to do? I didn’t search beyond December, but if you want to get married this year, I guess it won’t be legal in LA County. I was frustrated. They were confused. Now what?
So, on Sunday, I asked Jeremy (my son) what he did to secure a license last year, back when COVID was even more of a thing than today. He said they gave up on LA County and applied in Orange County and got a license right away.
Immediately, I texted my young couple and relayed the information. Before an hour was up, they let me know they had applied for the license and had an appointment to pick it up the very next day. On Monday morning, I got the best text ever: “We got the license.” I was elated. And still angry. Are you telling me that you can get a marriage license in less than 24 hours in Orange County, but you can’t get one for at least six weeks in LA County? It’s true. Who’s running this county? Whoever it is certainly doesn’t support the institution of marriage. This county is not marriage-friendly, in my humble opinion. All the talk of caring about families is nothing more than that. Blah, blah, blah. They’ve had two years to figure out how to accommodate young couples in a pandemic, and no one has figured it out? Apparently not.
You know what I want? I want Jesus to come quickly, and let’s get His Kingdom started. Let righteousness rule over the land and see if we can solve this license issue. Pronto. When Jesus reigns, it won’t take a couple of months to get a marriage license, that’s for sure. Until that day comes, we will still have babies born around here, but their parents may not be married. They’ll still be waiting for a license. What a joke.