Wedding Blog: The Departure (and final entry)

[gsabc]

I stayed home Wednesday morning so I could see the HC off. They had planned to be off fairly early, but a glitch had come up. The RMV required an in-person visit to change your name on your driver's license. An address change, you can do online. Name change? Nope. So they had to wait until the local RMV office opened, do the change, and get back to the house. Before that, we finished off the PODS with the insertion and securing of the bedding. Click the lock, hand SIL the 2nd key (BD already had the 1st), and that was that until the truck came back to pick it up.

Back from the RMV, and a bit of food. Last minute car stuffing - anything that BD thought she would need within the next couple of months was there, along with SIL's relatively small portion from his trip. It was actually easier than her college travels. Less furniture involved, I guess. The computers (desktop and laptop) were in the car. A newly acquired fire-resistant strongbox was buried under the clothing. That held BD's important stuff, like car title and insurance papers, passport, birth certificate, job references, school transcripts and, of course, the official copies of the marriage license. GW had dropped the signed forms at the town hall on Monday. She was pleasantly surprised when they asked if she wanted a copy right then and there. We had thought it would take a few days to process. We got several copies, in case someone in CA needs to keep them for their own bureaucracy.

Departure was weepy, as expected. GW takes after her mother in this. I wasn't too great either, truth to tell. No further sage advice to give them, other than drive carefully, and say hello to the Wichita relatives for us. Some hugs and kisses. Into the car, and off. GW and I stood there waving, then holding each other for a few more moments before turning to head back into the house and our lives once again without children.
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Thus endeth the wedding blog entries. I thank my readers for following them for so long, especially these much-delayed last several on the wedding itself and the aftermath. I will be doing a quick update of events with the HC later on today, or so I hope. If anyone has any further questions, ask away.

[Appa23]

If they wil be living in California, why go through the time and expense of getting a new Massachusetts license?

(You asked for questions.)

[gsabc]

If they wil be living in California, why go through the time and expense of getting a new Massachusetts license?

(You asked for questions.)

Easier than going through the hassle of obtaining a CA license. The Army being what it is, their location will likely change within the next few years anyway. Her MA license still has several years before needing renewal, plus they allow you to renew one time online without a new photo. Her main complaint about it was that she liked the old photo. She was happy enough with the new one, though. She had a paper temporary license on the drive, and we just shipped her the new plastic one, which came just a couple of days after they left.

The car also remains registered in MA for the time being. Conveniently, it needed its annual inspection in August, and BD had that done before leaving. SIL still has his license from NC, from his time at Fort Bragg.

[MarleysGh0st]

Thus endeth the wedding blog entries. I thank my readers for following them for so long, especially these much-delayed last several on the wedding itself and the aftermath. I will be doing a quick update of events with the HC later on today, or so I hope. If anyone has any further questions, ask away.

Are you going to do what Lynn Johnston is doing with For Better or For Worse and start the whole story over again, with HS and BD as little kids?

[Appa23]

If they wil be living in California, why go through the time and expense of getting a new Massachusetts license?

(You asked for questions.)

Easier than going through the hassle of obtaining a CA license. The Army being what it is, their location will likely change within the next few years anyway. Her MA license still has several years before needing renewal, plus they allow you to renew one time online without a new photo. Her main complaint about it was that she liked the old photo. She was happy enough with the new one, though. She had a paper temporary license on the drive, and we just shipped her the new plastic one, which came just a couple of days after they left.

The car also remains registered in MA for the time being. Conveniently, it needed its annual inspection in August, and BD had that done before leaving. SIL still has his license from NC, from his time at Fort Bragg.

I knew that people in the military can retain home state licensing (driver and car), but I was not sure about spouses' driver licenses. It is my understanding that a large percentage of military members license their vehicles in Oregon, as the car tax there is ridiculously low (or maybe it was.) Lots of Oregon plates around the Omaha area, because of Offutt AFB.

[gsabc]

Are you going to do what Lynn Johnston is doing with For Better or For Worse and start the whole story over again, with HS and BD as little kids?

Only if I can also redraw myself to be better-looking than I was (and am), same as she's doing.

[PlacentiaSoccerMom]

If they wil be living in California, why go through the time and expense of getting a new Massachusetts license?

(You asked for questions.)

That's a good question.

According to the California DMV

If you are a visitor in California over 18 and have a valid driver license from your home state or country, you may drive in this state without getting a California driver license as long as your home state license remains valid.

If you take a job here or become a resident, you must get a California driver license within 10 days. Residency is established by voting in a California election, paying resident tuition, filing for a homeowner’s property tax exemption, or any other privilege or benefit not ordinarily extended to nonresidents.

[peacock2121]

I applaude you for letting a bunch of 'strangers' into one of the biggest events of your life, allowing and sometimes asking us to comment and opine.

May the HC remain so for more years than we can imagine.

[gsabc]

If they wil be living in California, why go through the time and expense of getting a new Massachusetts license?

(You asked for questions.)

That's a good question.

According to the California DMV

If you are a visitor in California over 18 and have a valid driver license from your home state or country, you may drive in this state without getting a California driver license as long as your home state license remains valid.

If you take a job here or become a resident, you must get a California driver license within 10 days. Residency is established by voting in a California election, paying resident tuition, filing for a homeowner’s property tax exemption, or any other privilege or benefit not ordinarily extended to nonresidents.

This covers the car registration issue, also from the CA DMV:

NOTE: Nonresident military personnel stationed in California or their spouses may operate their vehicles with valid out-of-state license plates from their home state or the state where the military person was last stationed.

I couldn't find a similar military exemption for out-of-state licenses. Since BD will have a job there at some point, I'll have her check on base about it. I'm sure someone there will know.

[cindy.wellman]

If they wil be living in California, why go through the time and expense of getting a new Massachusetts license?

(You asked for questions.)

That's a good question.

According to the California DMV

If you are a visitor in California over 18 and have a valid driver license from your home state or country, you may drive in this state without getting a California driver license as long as your home state license remains valid.

If you take a job here or become a resident, you must get a California driver license within 10 days. Residency is established by voting in a California election, paying resident tuition, filing for a homeowner’s property tax exemption, or any other privilege or benefit not ordinarily extended to nonresidents.

This covers the car registration issue, also from the CA DMV:

NOTE: Nonresident military personnel stationed in California or their spouses may operate their vehicles with valid out-of-state license plates from their home state or the state where the military person was last stationed.

I couldn't find a similar military exemption for out-of-state licenses. Since BD will have a job there at some point, I'll have her check on base about it. I'm sure someone there will know.

Because of rules similar to the one you referenced for California, it was easier for me as the spouse to get the license in the new state, rather than keep the old one. Eric ended up getting a new license in each state as well.

The exception was when we moved overseas, where it was a requirement to to maintain a stateside license in order to obtain an Italian license. The requirements for state license renewal were painful for some states, and really easy for others. We lucked out w/ Alaska, and they only required a few pieces of paperwork, but not our physical presence. (unlike a few states) My close friend had to fly back to Arizona to renew her license, or she would have lost her privilege to drive her car on the base.

Enough of that stuff though: GS, thank you so much for writing about this. I really enjoyed hearing the entire story. I did miss a few days, so one of these days I'll need to go back and find out just what happened!

I hope you have plans to print this out and do something with it. Does the rest of your family know that you did this? I think it is really special, and if my dad had done something like this for me, I would have loved a copy of it.

[gsabc]

Enough of that stuff though: GS, thank you so much for writing about this. I really enjoyed hearing the entire story. I did miss a few days, so one of these days I'll need to go back and find out just what happened!

I hope you have plans to print this out and do something with it. Does the rest of your family know that you did this? I think it is really special, and if my dad had done something like this for me, I would have loved a copy of it.

No, they don't know. Good idea, though. Maybe for a first anniversary gift. Isn't that the paper one?

I started by writing these offline, then cutting and pasting into the site. I went direct a while back, though, so now I've got to go back and do the reverse cut-and-paste to get them onto my memory stick. After about BD**2 - 100 or so, the only day I have in MSWord is The Big Day itself and the later stuff, all in one unwieldy document.

I think if you do a search of messages with BD**2 as text and gsabc as author, you can get just my initial blog entries. Maybe the replies I made will come up, too, but it's a lot better than sifting through all of my 2300+ posts by hand.

[gsabc]

I think if you do a search of messages with BD**2 as text and gsabc as author, you can get just my initial blog entries.

Nope. Try "wedding blog" as the search text, and make sure you have the "topic and text" button clicked.

Good lord, I've been doing these since January 20th?? Over 200 days? I had forgotten. However will I be able to keep up my post count now?

[cindy.wellman]

I think if you do a search of messages with BD**2 as text and gsabc as author, you can get just my initial blog entries.

Nope. Try "wedding blog" as the search text, and make sure you have the "topic and text" button clicked.

Good lord, I've been doing these since January 20th?? Over 200 days? I had forgotten. However will I be able to keep up my post count now?

Now I have some reading to do. I like how you gave definition to the acronyms in the first installment.

If you print it, do you think you'll print all the comments too? Some of the fun was in the comments, questions and responses. In my opinion, that would be a tough call. I'd probably end up printing both. LOL

[MarleysGh0st]

If you print it, do you think you'll print all the comments too? Some of the fun was in the comments, questions and responses. In my opinion, that would be a tough call. I'd probably end up printing both. LOL

If he's going to tell the HC that he shared their story with a whole bunch of people they've never even met, of course, he should include the comments!

[gsabc]

If you print it, do you think you'll print all the comments too? Some of the fun was in the comments, questions and responses. In my opinion, that would be a tough call. I'd probably end up printing both. LOL

If he's going to tell the HC that he shared their story with a whole bunch of people they've never even met, of course, he should include the comments!

Actually, I'm not sure, since the comments were directed at me and not at them. I may do it both ways and then decide.

[MarleysGh0st]

If you print it, do you think you'll print all the comments too? Some of the fun was in the comments, questions and responses. In my opinion, that would be a tough call. I'd probably end up printing both. LOL

If he's going to tell the HC that he shared their story with a whole bunch of people they've never even met, of course, he should include the comments!

Actually, I'm not sure, since the comments were directed at me and not at them. I may do it both ways and then decide.

Well, the whole blog was told from your perspective!

Otherwise, we'd have gotten their answer to the suggestion that they elope, way back when you started this story.