Finally...Our Marriage Certificate is on the Way!

Well, it’s not really on the way, but I finally got through to someone in St. Thomas who was able to help me. This was a huge feat and was one of my final hurdles in the paper chase. For those who care, here’s the back story:

Shawn and I were married in St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands on a beautiful morning in February, 1996. It was 8:30am on a weekday and we were the only people on the beach. White sand, azure blue water, and eucalyptus trees surrounded us as we pledged our lives to each other. Nothing seemed more perfect or more romantic. We felt like we really worked the system and won big time…No big church wedding, no wedding planner headaches (we had one, but on the island. Whether I wanted the Island Dreams package #1 or Perfect Paradise package #2, was the extent of my wedding day stress). For 11 years now, we’ve felt like we came out way ahead of most of our friends who went to town with the whole church thing… Until we needed a copy of our marriage certificate.

Shortly after the New Year, I wrote a letter to an address I found online for ordering marriage certificates from the Virgin Islands. Unfortunately, there was no phone number, and no details on how much it cost, whether we needed to provide I.D., proof that we are who we say we are, etc. My letter pleaded endlessly that they expedite any forms necessary as we needed the certificate to meet a deadline for submitting paperwork to adopt a foreign orphan. I even went so far as to say that this child needs medical care that is awaiting him in the U.S., and that we had a deadline of March 1^st. Apparently, none of my lies struck a compassionate chord with anyone there, because here we are 2 days before March 1^st, and not so much as a whisper from the islands. The clerks must be out back, feet dangling in the surf, sipping something with lots of rum, laaaugghhhinng...all the while fanning themselves with my letter.

Today, as I addressed an envelope to our agency, sending off the last of our documents and pictures until our USCIS paperwork to comes back, I realized that I HAD to do something to try to get our marriage certificate. I did a search for any court or city hall sounding contact on the island and took down about 5 phone numbers. On my lunch, I started calling numbers, and on the 3^rd one, I got a gal who put me on hold and then transferred me to the Superior Court. I was then transferred two more times and put on hold for about 15 minutes. Because I had no idea of where I was in the system at this point, I couldn’t hang up. I was calling long distance on my cell phone, so who knows how much it was costing me, but I was hanging on for dear life!

Finally, Phyllis (or Big Phil as I’ve decided to call her) came on the line and said that she never got my letter and ALL letters go through her. All? OK, whatever you say, Phyllis. I was picturing a big Caribbean gal with a scarf wrapped high on her head…arms crossed and lips pursed. NO letter came to her…no way, no how. "Child, you’d better think again! Snap snap snap…" OK, I’m done with the euphemisms.

So, Big Phil went on to say that I was supposed to send my request with $2 to the Court House and not Vital Records (although the CDC website lists Vital Records in about 4 places). I said my apologies and asked her for an address. She gave it to me and asked that a self addressed stamped envelope accompany it. She said she makes one trip a week to “the warehouse” to gather documents, only one (strong emphasis on one…her bright red painted fingernail pointing skyward at the phone to make her point)

After gathering a few facts about who we are and when we were married, she changed from all business and became all smiles. “Thank you for visiting our islands, dear.” “Was your wedding lovely, honey?”. “I’m so glad you’re adopting a child, my dear. I’m sure he or she will be very lucky. Be sure to bring him in to visit next time you’re in St. Thomas”. It was all good times now. Big Phil and I are buddies.

So, now I just have to run to the bank for a whopping $2 money order and get this thing sent to Big Phil. Maybe I’ll throw a Starbucks card in there for her. They have to have a beach side kiosk somewhere on the island by now.

So, thanks to Big Phil and her ONE trip per week to “the warehouse”, hopefully she’ll find our marriage certificate and we’ll have it in the next couple of weeks. Let’s just hope we’re not in one of those boxes lost in their last round of hurricanes or water damaged by the latest monsoon. When we were there to be married, they were still cleaning up from Andrew and it wasn't pretty.

Next step: Pray hard for a smooth processing of our background check and I-600A at immigration. The arrival of that final HUGE piece, the I-171H really can’t come soon enough. Without it, our dossier won’t be complete. We have almost exactly 2 months left before the May 1 deadline!