Live, Local, Late-breaking (from Jay)

This (below) was written by Jay to a bunch of his long-distance friends on Thursday night at 9PM:


A long time ago, I met MB at a class she was taking in the Adirondacks through SUNY ESF.

The last day of the class I was sitting on the tailgate of my truck, kayak on the roof, looking at a map of Adirondack lakes.

MB asked where I was headed. I said, "Wherever there's water...". To which she replied, "There's water where I'm going." And so it began...

Tomorrow is National Adoption day and there is a big to-to in our county where several judges get together at the convention center and finalize a large number of adoptions. We are going to be there with Meseret. As we thought about becoming a family, and realized there a whole bunch of judges could help us out with one final detail we have not gotten around to in the past 12 years. After a few phone calls, and the support of our lawyer, the judge who will be finalizing our adoption agreed to marry us before the adoption ceremony. This whole thing was planned out in a week, but MB's four sisters, mom and dad and my mom (we are trying to get my dad, but a recent visit from the traveling nurse gave him an "F" for his balance, and recommended he not leave the house) and sister will all be present. Shortly before the adoption ceremony I will gather everyone together for a picture...MB will be in the bathroom changing. The band will play the wedding march and out she will come (her dad is in on it too, and will be waiting to escort her over to the "picture" location.) The judge will be waiting and will perform a brief ceremony. We are polishing our "vows" right now (w/10 hours to spare), but it will be a reference to our adventures so far, and should go something like this:

J- Wherever there’s water…

MB- Adirondack ponds

J-Kayaking Prince Edward Island

MB- Frozen coffee pots on 12 degree Utah nights

J- Fishing spiders on Algonquin's North River Lake

MB-Tears on Zion Park's Angels Landing Trail

J-The headwaters of the Colorado River

MB-Snorkeling the Great Barrier Reef

J- Crater Lakes of Ethiopia

MB- Sweet M's Sippy cup

J- Wherever there’s water (ring to MB)

MB- There’s water where I’m going…(ring to J)

J- The adventure continues...

Our rings are titanium bands with "water" phonetically spelled out in Amharic, the language of Ethiopia.

We never have done things in quite the traditional way...so we might as well keep up that tradition. Apparently, the local newspaper has picked up on this and already called MB for an interview. The reporter that features human interest and civic issues for the Syracuse papers will be there, too.

So much for our original idea of slipping off for some quiet, under the radar union.