My Run-In With The Law

I forgot to tell a little story about an exciting day or two this summer.

Our van was illegal for a while.  We needed to get it's registration renewed.  But unlike Idaho, where you just pay money and get a new sticker, in Utah you have to get your car inspected before you can renew the registration.  We knew that the HUGE crack in our windshield would need to be replaced before it a passed safety inspection.  However, I didn't really want to sit in a stinky car shop with four rowdy children and a throw-up bowl very much. David was really busy at work, so he never had time to take the van in by himself. 

Well, time kept on truckin' by and we kept on saying, "maybe next week" until we were seriously past due on our registration.  On July 31st, I was driving home from the pool with my kids when I noticed police lights behind me.  I pulled over and told the kids what was going on.  Josh was terrified.  He was sure we were all going to be carted off to jail.  Luckily for me, the police officer was extremely nice.  Here I was in my swim suit with four tired, frightened children and no driver's license (I forgot to bring my purse to the pool) and a van that was THREE MONTHS past due on its registration.  The officer was young - I think he probably has a frazzled wife and crazy kids at home too because he was so gentle with me.  He explained that if it had been ONE DAY later, the van would have been more than three months past due and he would HAVE to impound it.  Now, getting pulled over might not seem like a tender mercy to you, but I sure think that the timing was!  Of course, I got a ticket.  I deserved it.

I spent the rest of the day doing exactly what I'd hoped to avoid - hanging out in two different auto shop waiting rooms with four kids.  But again, I was blessed to have some nice people in those waiting rooms with us and some well-packed entertainment bags, so it went much better than it could have. 

Two weeks later, I again took all four kids with me to the courthouse to pay the ticket.  That was not a good experience.  I was already frazzled, tired, sick, embarrassed, and a little nervous.  It's not pleasant to go to the courthouse to pay a ticket.  When we walked in, there was a huge metal detector machine and a couple of cops at the door.  My kids were kind of milling around, so I was trying to herd them through the metal detector.  I told them something like, "This is to see if you have any guns on you."  One of the cops, the 60 year old short cocky Asian man with a handle bar moustache said, "Don't say that.  You say that I again, and you'll be saying it through a glass window to your kids."  I'm not kidding!  He said that to me.  I guess you can't say gun or something,  I don't even know.  I was too shocked and hurt to be angry or say anything back to him.  I kind of stuttered out things like, "oh...um...okay" and just tried to get away before I started crying.  I think the other cop noticed that I was losing it, because he said, "No she wouldn't. But we probably would have to ask you to leave."  The first cop was like, "Maybe you would, but I'm crankier than you..." and they kept arguing as I practically ran down the hall to get away. 

I paid the ticket.  While we were waiting in line, some other man walking down the hall told my kids to settle down or something and I seriously had to bite my lip to keep from melting on the floor in a pathetic puddle of tears.  My kids weren't even being bad.  I thought they were doing really well - just some ego-tripping cop didn't agree.

I had to pass the mean cop on the way out - trust me, I looked for another door, but there was only one.  I think he said goodbye to us, but I just kind of kept my head down and ran past.  The second I hit the van door, I started crying.  And I literally didn't stop all day.  I spent the entire day in bed crying.  Ridiculous, I know.  I blame it mostly on hormones.  I know no body has a GOOD experience when they're in the DMV or traffic court, but mine was just too much for this pregnant woman to handle.

So that was my run in with the law.  One really good experience and one really bad one.  I hope that I never have to do either one again.