It's Official!

As some of you may already know, I became a Justice of the Peace in Connecticut this year. It wasn't a long-held dream - but rather a lark. A friend was getting married and, knowing that I was Notary Public, asked if I would perform the ceremony. I would if I could, but unfortunately, that's not within the realm of my powers. It got me thinking however, what would it take to be able to join couples in holy matrimony (or unions, as the case may be)?

I looked into it, and found that I was in luck - the process here is tied to the election process and I was right on time. In Connecticut, each town has a number of JPs set aside for each political party. If you are a Republican or a Democrat, you work through your local party leader to be nominated. That's way too much work for me, and thankfully, I'm a registered Independent. The rules are always different for us. If you are so unclear as to which party you want to be associated, you get to just fill out your name and address at town hall and voila - you're in. In my town, there are always more available seats than potential JPs, so it was a shoe-in.

I became official on January 3rd and was given a poorly Xeroxed handbook outlining my role and responsibilities, a sample marriage ceremony (insert name here) and a cheesy certificate to make it all look legit. My name was also added to an alphabetical list of JPs that is given to brides and grooms when they apply for a marriage license. I've heard tales that the names that begin with "A" get a lot more business than those unfortunate "Z's" stuck at the bottom of the alphabet, but I figured I was smack in the middle and might get a call or two. And so the waiting began...