I was returning home today after running some errands when a police car pulled me over, just as I was about to get onto the interstate. I was sure I hadn’t been speeding, didn’t run a light, and I had even signaled before changing lanes. When the officer came up to my car, he said, “Are you aware that your tags are expired?” DOH! I had forgotten all about that!

I explained that we had just started moving into a new house right after Christmas, and even pointed out the pile of clothes in the seat behind me that I had just picked up from the old house, and told him that in all the shuffle, we had just forgotten that the tags were due at the end of December. He took my driver’s license and returned to his car to run checks (though it doesn’t get much less suspicious than an overweight, middle-aged white guy driving a 10-year old minivan with a handicap tag).

When he returned my license to me, he said, “Nice name.” I looked at the name tag on his Kevlar vest, and it said “CAMPBELL”. That was a nice tension breaker, and I broke out into a grin. He gave me a warning, and I promised to take care of the tags next week. Whew!