Officially Legal

I know I haven’t talked much about the wedding, but that’s because I’m waiting for all of our professional photos to come in, so I can do a proper recap. Thankfully, Kim sent me those teasers to keep my curiosity tamed in the interim.

I’m so happy she included the following photo, because even though you can’t see it, the picture on the right was the only time I got choked up the entire day.

The only time I felt tears of joy well up inside was when we passed through the saber arch and the last gentleman said to me, “Welcome to the United States Air Force, Ma’am.” If it wasn’t because I was so gosh-darn, overwhelmingly happy and excited, I would’ve broke down and cried right then and there. I think that was the moment when I realized that it actually happened and I was no longer his girlfriend or fiance, but his wife.

To make things more official, last week I played the waiting game at the Social Security office and again on base while trying to get everything switched over to my new name and to make me officially and legally an Air Force wife. If you have to go through this, I suggest taking a book or something to entertain you at both places. Social Security doesn’t allow your phone to be out and cameras aren’t allowed at either place. So sorry, no photos to share with you this time.

Here are the documents I needed. I took everything with me just in case:

• Two forms of ID (I used my passport and driver’s license)
• Marriage certificate
• Social Security card (to get my new card they have to destroy the old card)
• A notarized copy of our application for marriage (they gave us several copies when we turned in our marriage certificate after the wedding)

Except for the long waits, both processes turned out to be relatively smooth. I have to wait another week before my SS card comes in, but that’s about it. My next challenge is to start changing my name and address for my bank accounts, magazines, and other things here and there.

We also signed me up for TriCare for our health care. I’ve heard so many mixed reviews about it, but the woman we talked to was extremely nice and said she’d answer any and all of my questions, so at least my first experience with it wasn’t terrible.

Thank you for all the comments you left on my post about being a new military wife; I’m read all of them and appreciate your thoughts! And if you haven’t already, take the poll on the right 🙂 I love seeing who reads this blog!