Weddings on Wednesday

Wednesday I had high hopes for a busy time doing marriage ceremonies.  No such luck.  I did very few marriages.

I had two weddings that were Hispanic.  They each had lots of family attending the wedding.  The one thing they both had in common, hovering fathers. 

The fathers of the brides at each wedding were in my face, right beside me, trying to make decisions about the ceremonies, asking questions, grabbing for the paperwork.  The couples were not 18 year old babies marrying.  Both couples were in their mid twenties.  Plus if they are marrying, then they need to handle the legalities and decisions by themselves. You know I didn’t pay much attention to the fathers.  I was polite, but the couples’ wishes are all I consider and the ones getting the paperwork.

I checked a license and then looked over the souvenir certificate.  There was an error on the souvenir certificate.  These are not computer generated.  They are on fancy paper with  blanks spaces to type in the date and place, the names of the couple, witnesses’ info, and Marriage commissioner’s name. I took it back to Clerk K.  She groaned and said, “ I have trouble using a typewriter.  I’d never seen a typewriter until I took this job. I have trouble figuring out how to line up the spaces to fill in the blanks.”

Think about it.  When is the last time you used a typewriter?  This young woman is 23 years old.  She and many of the other clerks have never lived in a world without computers.  There are very very few instances today when typewriters are used.  Try to think of a need for a typewriter.  Let me know if you think of something.