This morning I debated whether or not to drive south to BYU, or “Bye-Yoo” as Ellie has dubbed it. After Jacob’s clarification that the 30 day grace period to renew our vehicle’s registration was up at the end of December, and not at the end of Januray as I had thought, I felt like this knowledge would somehow jinx me and I would get pulled over. I had unknowingly been driving around illegally for half a month with no problem, but it’s interesting how our perspective always changes when innocence is lost. Since I had already promised the girls a fun excursion with the cousins, I felt like I had no choice but to risk driving with expired stickers.
I pulled into the visitor’s parking lot with, characteristically, not a moment to spare. The girls were prepped and ready with the instructions “okay, the second I park the car, unbuckle, get out the car, and then we run, and I mean run to the Planetarium to make the star show!” Everything was going great until I hopped out of the car and nearly ran into the campus police officer who, for a split second, I had considered not parking right in front of. But assuming that my registration stickers were of no concern to a University, I had decided to take advantage of the great parking spot that would shorten our run by a few hundred yards.
Oh how I’ve missed BYU policemen. Next to providing a wonderful “police beat” reading each week in the university paper, they always make sure that no infraction too small goes unnoticed. But once again, I reiterate, why should a campus police officer be concerned with my registration? But I’m so glad that I gave him a sense of purpose today and that he was able to issue me a fun “fix-it-ticket” (looks like they’ve been implementing some creative citation options since last time I spoke with them) where I have two weeks to get my problem fixed with only a small fine. And he delayed me by that moment that I did not have to spare, and hence we missed the much-anticipated star gazing show.
But looking on the bright side, I won’t feel guilty this year for not donating to my alma mater. I’ll count this as my contribution.
