Police Stopped My Car

Yeah, so it's not snowy and the parking lots aren't full of evergreen trees, but it happened anyway.

We waited most of the day yesterday for Freecycle(tm) folks to drop in and take things away that we no longer needed or wanted. Got rid of quite a bit of stuff, but despite the best laid plans, things ended up that we were able to leave the house at about 3pm. A bit late for my liking, and with little chance to get everything I had planned finished before the 5pm deadline, we headed out anyway with our little car bearing the license plates for Sheldon so we wouldn't get stopped too much while making things legal.

First we stopped at an automotive store to pick up some goodies to make the car inspectable (and prettier) before we headed to the county assessor's office to pay the taxes and get the proof of payment receipt I would need to finish the re-licensing process. Onward we headed to the inspection station, which had closed at 4:30. We thought it closed at 5, but we were mistaken. So off we went to find another inspection station. Stopped at three in all, and discovered that they all stopped doing inspections at about 4:30 to make sure they could close the shop by 5. Darn

With no hope of completing the task, on we drove towards home when we got pulled over by an officer right after passing through an intersection. 'I didn't run that light, did I?' I think to myself, the innocent's lament. Nah, it wasn't a flashing light, and I followed that car through it, so I couldn't have run it. I pull into a nearby parking lot and pull up far enough that the officer can get his car completely out of the street, then turn off my engine and wait.

He wanders leisurely up to the car and just stands there for a second, causing me to ask what the matter is. He asks me if I know that my plates are registered to an Oldsmobile. Yes, I tell him, they are from my other car, and we are trying to get this one legal. I tell him the tale of the closed inspection stations and the rest of our day, presenting receipts as evidence of my innocence, and let him know that we are on our way home. Asking for my license and insurance, he asks me where home is, and I tell him (we were headed on a straight shot to it). I also inform him that the insurance cards for the newly repaired car haven't come in the mail yet while handing him the ins card for the Oldsmobile, and he goes back to his car to check on things.

When he comes back, he hands me back my things and tells me that it looks like I am really working to get everything taken care of with the car, so he'll go easy on me this time. 'Go easy?' I think, 'What did I do wrong?'. Then I find out. My driver's license is expired!

Holy moly! I said "whut?!?" with a genuinely surprised expression on my face, and he goes on to explain that my license expired in May! Well crud, I've been unlicensed all that time?! Crazy! I thank him for stopping me, because otherwise I wouldn't have known that my license was expired, and told him that was just one more thing to take care of today. He smiled, told me to have a nice day, and went back to his car. We drove on home.

Yet another instance where honesty and innocence pay off to avoid a ticket that rightfully could have been given anyway.

Life is made up of the little blessings.