Monica’s here in the US and we’re married. Our plan is to give the Cecil County courthouse a week or so to clear the paperwork and then get the certified copy that I’ll need to get Monica’s Adjustment of Status request filed. Once that’s done, we’ll wait for her permission to work and travel (maybe six to eight weeks) and then her restricted green card. After two years, we can apply to remove the restrictions – a provision in the regulations designed to cut down on sham immigration marriages, no doubt.
We were married in a short ceremony on Saturday, July 26 at the Historic Little Wedding Chapel in Elkton, Maryland. First, a little historical background – Elkton was once the marriage capital of the East coast. Maryland had no waiting requirement for a marriage license and Elkton (convenient to Delaware, New Jersey and Pennsylvania) became a home for many chapels that took advantage of Maryland’s lax requirements to offer “quickie” marriages. Thousands of people got married in that little town. Perhaps 25 years ago, the law was changed. If you want to get married now, you have to wait at least 48 hours after you apply for a license (in Delaware, it’s 24 hours).
The Elkton marriage industry dried up because of the law change, but one chapel remains. The Historic Little Wedding Chapel offers a quick wedding with more personality than a courthouse ceremony. We applied for our license on the Wednesday before our wedding. The clerk asked us to wait a few minutes, as another couple was there before us. We took a seat on a bench as the other couple in shorts and t-shirts, along with a baby in a stroller, was led into a room behind us. We could hear their wedding vows through the door. A few minutes later, the couple left the room, pushing their stroller down the hall as they began their married lives together.
Ick. Not for us.
August is an unlucky month to get married, according to my Brasileira. 
I also had to work the last week of July, so the decision was pretty much made for us. The week before we got married, I had to work nights, but we were able to make trips to the local malls and find the stuff necessary to make the wedding happen. We got married at 1pm on that Saturday. My brother Jeff and my friend John were there. There was no party or reception afterward. Our apologies to anyone that would have liked to be there and didn’t get an invitation. We wanted to keep this small and simple.
The happy couple immediately left for the beach area, where they stayed at Hotel Rehoboth (an awesome place) before returning to Wilmington, where they plan to live.
I put in 48 hours at the refinery, working Monday – Thursday and we left on Friday for St. Croix.
We’re here now, enjoying the ocean breeze. It’s not really sunny, but that’s okay. I should have time to catch up my blog while I’m here.
More later,
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