And the car saga continues...

Have I mentioned I hate driving? Honestly, I love this country. But I do not like driving here.
I long for the easy, pleasant driving of a long stretch of road through Indiana cornfields. Or even Chicago driving; that seems like a piece of cake to me now. But, alas, if we're going to live on a beautiful tropical island on a mountain, we have to take the stresses that come with it.

Today was my first time driving off campus since the motorcycle accident. I was a little nervous, but determined to make the best of it. Driving through town to pick up the kids always increases my stress level, and the addition of the recent accident made me even more tense. However, everything was going well. Until I passed the police station and the police pulled me over. That did it. My stress level maxed out and I broke down (into tears that is). I felt stupid for crying, which just made it worse, of course. The policeman kept assuring me I wasn't getting a ticket, they wanted to help me, and not to cry. That didn't help either. (I'd already figured out by this point that our registration sticker had expired). And so I sat in the hot sun in the car and tried to figure out what to do, as it became apparent they weren't going to let me go anywhere.

In my overwhelmed-ness I couldn't remember E.C.'s phone number, and was in no state to converse in Spanish. So I called JCS, told them I was having problems (since I'd be late to pick up the kids) and asked for E.C.'s phone number. Then I called Daniel and handed the phone to the policeman for Daniel to deal with the Spanish. They said I could go pick up the kids, but Daniel would have to buy the sticker today.

Apparently the sticker's expired yesterday (they do not put an date on the sticker itself). The school let all the staff know that this was coming a few months ago. However, we weren't on staff a few months ago. And JCS probably just did it this past month (and we were gone by then). So we kind-of missed that announcement. As apparently did other people, because I was not the only one being pulled over.

I felt silly for crying over such a small thing- until I found out later that they could have impounded my car if they had wanted.

Sigh. I really just want an uneventful trip when I go to pick up the kids!