Here We Come A-Wassailing

We did it! Eric and I went to Probate and Family Court and became Wassails. The process was confusing from the moment we walked into the building and realized we had no idea where courtroom 4 was. After asking at the Family Law Information Center, we found courtroom 4 on the fourth floor. When we entered the courtroom, the judge was hearing a case about a woman from Colombia who wanted an annulment. After taking a seat briefly, we realized we needed to check in with the clerk who promptly sent us to Probation Intake on the 1st floor for a CORI check – the database of criminal court appearances in Massachusetts. With our paperwork indicating we did not have violent records in hand, we went back up to courtroom 4 and checked back in with the clerk and then sat down to wait.The funny thing about being in court is you get to witness everything that happens while you are waiting. Having only experienced courtrooms through TV and movies, Eric and I were both fascinated by the whole process and wished we could have spent the whole day as a fly on the wall. Watching the interaction of the judge with the two lawyers in the case before ours made us a little nervous, especially when she said to one of the lawyers, “that’s not even a logical response to the question I asked you.” What was she going to ask us?

When it was our turn, the judge asked us to state our names, raise our right hands, and swear to tell the truth. Then she asked us if this was some kind of new trend. We were the second couple in her courtroom that day combining names and she thought maybe it was a Trick or Treat. Then she said she had reviewed our file and looked at our names and she was waiving the newspaper requirement and approving the name change. Yes! Before we left the podium, the judge said “one more thing: whichever one of you wrote ‘I politely suggest’, I like that! I wish more people around here would politely suggest things.” With that, we were sent down to the second floor to get our official name change document and retrieve our marriage and birth certificates. And here we come a-wassailing.