stopped

list night annie, andy and i went to the gym at andy's apartment complex. i had been in the car all day from iowa to nashville, and needed to let off some steam. we finished our workout, let andy speed-change (why did we let the boy look and smell better than us?) and took off to meet caylin and jonathan at jackson's. turning the corner from 12th onto belmont we saw two cops sitting at the crossing light. i was a bit nervous just having quickly (though WITH turn signals) swirved across two lanes to make my turn, but they turned left away from me and i relaxed.

unfortunately it was short-lived. a few seconds after i turned right annie piped up, "umm...not to make you nervous, but i thought you should know one of the cops did a Uturn and is behind us". Dangit. Sure enough, the lights started blazing and i pulled the car to the side whist realizing that dad and i had searched for the registration just the other day at the shop. unsuccessfully. i did manage to find the insurance card - two in fact. buuuut that had expired two months ago. brilliant. well at least i actually had my drivers' license with me. i handed it to the cop as he informed me that my headlights were out (internally: yes, officer, i know. it's a long story...) and that my tags were expired. i sheepishly explained that it's my father's car and i can't find where he's put the registration. could it get any worse? a glance in my rearview proved it certainly could. the second policeman had decided to join his buddy.

the two, together, came to the window to let me know that on top of it all my driver's license had expired as well. guh! how could i have forgotten to renew my license on my birthday last weekend?? unbelievable... as they walked back to their cars to deliberate i started tallying up the possible fines...lights, registration, expired tags, expired license, no proof of insurance. well, at least i hadn't been drinking!

the younger of the two policemen returned to the window with my license and started a schpeel about how horribly illegal it was to drive as i had been. i apologized profusely and swore to go renew my lisense the following day before we left town. as he handed me my lisense, he searched for his words. "well...i can't say what others might do if they stop you...but all i can say is merry christmas. get it fixed."

thankgoodness for kind-hearted cops.