Little did I know that when I wrote Floor Mats and Coffee that the saga wouldn’t end there.  Saturday started off pretty normal, I woke up and my daughter was in bed with us ( I don’t know how she got there). It was just after 8:00am which meant I had slept in (hooray!! this rarely happens) but I had just enough time to get ready and make it to a 9:00am class at the gym. The day was off to a great start.

I managed to leave the house without too much drama from my kids. Usually when I go to the gym they gather around me like I was going off to war. They line up for hugs and kisses, the hugs are so tight you’d think they knew something I didn’t, there’s some “why do you have to go” No mama please don’t go” and lots of “when are you getting back?”. Today I got some kisses , some hugs and even one “have fun”. This was going to be a guilty free drive to the gym.

Then just as I was about to make a right into the parking lot, I got pulled over. I can not believe how nervous I got. I had never been pulled over before but the way my heart was racing and my hands were shaking you would think I had a dead body in the back.

The cop approached my car and asked my for my driver’s license. I handed it to him, he took a quick look and then asked for my insurance. This is where the plot thickens.

I was positive that the insurance papers were in the owner’s manual that was located just under the passenger seat. I reached over and under but I couldn’t feel it. I pulled out some napkins, a water bottle and a hairbrush and a drink tray. I felt around again. Nothing. I explained to the cop that I had to walk over to the other side of the car as I couldn’t reach from where I was. I got out of the car and walked over to the other side. When I got there the door was locked.  I had forgotten to unlock the doors before I got out. I had to walk back to the driver’s side, unlocked the doors and then walk back to the passenger side. Did I mention that the cop was right behind me the whole time and that I was in a busy intersection of both cars and pedestrians!

I decided to open the back passenger door since I hadn’t been able to reach it through the front , I thought I’d have better luck through the back. My hand went in. Out came a Dora hat, and a straw but no insurance. I know it had to be in there somewhere so I explained to the cop that maybe it was under the back passenger seat,  to which he replied “are you sure you have insurance”  I could have just said yes, but instead I told him that of course I had insurance,  that I regularly had my three kids of the car, how  Irresponsible it would be to drive without insurance, that it was my first time getting pulled over… and then I dove right back into the car to keep looking.

To make a long story short, after pulling out several DVD cases, a sticker book and several articles of clothing I found it! Well sort of. I found the slip for  the one that had just expired in May. I think the cop had enough of waiting and watching while I pulled my car apart like a narcotics dog and said that he would  just contact the insurance company based on the info I had.  At the end of it all, I ended up with a $110 dollar ticket for driving with expired plates. They expired three weeks ago. Three weeks and I get a ticket??  There should be some kind of grace period based on the number of children you have how long your commute is and even how big your pile of laundry is. I spared the cop my philosophy and said thank you as I took the ticket because I know that the ticket he could have given me for not having my insurance with me would have been a lot worse.

The worst part of all of this, is that the state of my car is an ongoing argument between my husband and I.  Mr. LibertyDee is constantly on me about cleaning out my car but he rarely drives the kids anywhere and he has a no eating in the car rule and a  “if you bring  it into the car you take it out of the car” rule. I have always had the “I just need the kids to get into the car” rule. and the stop hitting each other” rule and the ” please stop asking me to look at something” rule. But I have to say, after this particular incident I’m going to have to clean out the car. Here is his reaction when I told him what had happened. I’m in blue, he’s in yellow but you could have probably figured that out.