It was a regular Sunday morning, as my alarm started to make an obscenely loud noise. I opened my eyes and I think I only hit the snooze button twice. I curse the day I ever discovered the purpose of that button. I eventually got myself up and in the shower. I’m really not awake until that water hits me. I love a morning shower. I don’t really understand those who only bath at night. Next step, get dressed for church and get out the door. I like to stop at Dunkin Donuts and grab an iced coffee before worship team practice. I’m running a little behind schedule as I walk out my door debating on whether I should still attempt this, or go straight to church and be on time.
As I get to the bottom of my steps and enter the parking lot, I start scanning for my car.
Hmmm, I thought I parked right there…….Maybe its further down that way. Hmmm, this can’t be right.
At this point I am confused and start strolling around and looking for my car. After about 2 minutes of this, I have realized that my car is AWOL. Its somewhere not here. I walk over and sit on my steps and decide that there are two options. Option 1, my car was stolen. Option 2, my car was towed by my condo association. At this point I take my phone out of my pocket and call my friend Ian at church and tell him that my car is missing and I need someone to pick me up for church. I’ll deal with this later.
Since I live a couple miles form my church, it only took about 15 minutes until I was standing next to my fellow musical types explaining that I my car was away from home without my permission. After church my friend Bernie drove me home and I called the number for the towing company that our condo association uses. The woman I spoke to said that she wasn’t sure that they had taken my car. This was not what I expected; I began to think maybe my car had been stolen. I spoke with her again 30 minutes later and she told me that they did have my car.
Having located who was in possession of my vehicle, I asked why. She advised me it was something to do with my tags. At this point I feel it necessary to explain that on 6/15 of this year my condo association began a parking enforcement program. Some people from a nearby neighborhood were parking excess vehicles in our spaces. We also had some residents who would have extra unregistered cars or several overnight guests. At this time, you need to have your car registered, your guests need a pass if its overnight, etc…. If your car isnt’ registered with the complex, you get a warning. If it is in an illegal spot, handicapped spot, or is untagged, it is towed immediately.
Being told that my car was towed for a tag issue, I began to think about the last time I went to motor vehicle. I was almost sure that it was tagged appropriately, but I have been known to let my tags expire in the past. I would deal with this when I had all the facts and picked my car up Monday morning, so I called my mother and made arrangements for her to pick me up early Monday morning. I spent the afternoon and evening with MC_Shan and Kate going to a friends afternoon church service and having dinner at Outback. I needed a good steak.
Monday morning came and I was up and ready to go when my mom picked me up. We are very different in how we handle stressful situations. Where I am calm and tend to avoid worry and rushing into more stress, my mom is ready to call everyone in the county to complain and yell about something. Needless to say, I had to calm her down about the situation. When we got to the towing company, she wanted to come in with me to “question” why my car was towed, I wouldn’t let her. I knew it would turn into a scenario in which she would "loud talk" to me on the injustice or stupidity of the situation. It wasn’t the towing companies fault; they were just doing their job. So after I paid the $200 (this was the most painful part of this whole situation), I sent my mom home. My car was at another lot the company maintained, and so they graciously offered me a lift to that lot.
Here is a fun part of the story. I got to ride in a tow truck with two of the most stereotypical tow truck guys you will ever meet. As we drove to the other lot, the driver was yelling at women he passed while complaining about his ex wife and telling stories with the other guy about run ins with the police over the weekend. The experience was priceless.
We got to the lot and my car was released to me, and just as expected the liscense plate sticker said Nov 06. Now I have let my registration go a few weeks in the past, but never 7 months. I drove to work and when I got to the office, I rifled through my glove box and found the registration slip. It said that the car expired in Nov 06. At this point I am kicking myself, because it looks like it is completely my fault. How could I let my registration go for 7 months.
At lunch I went to Motor Vehicle to get the car inspected and get a new sticker so that I wouldn’t be towed again that night. I waited in line for inspection for over an hour. This wouldn’t have been so bad, but my air doesn’t work in the car and it was something like 97 degrees out. I got through the lane, went in the building and went to the counter. Surprisingly, everyone at Motor Vehicle is more pleasant than they used to be. The lady at the counter took my paperwork and when she pulled my car up, she informed me that my car’s registration didn’t expire until Nov 07. Suddenly struck by the comedic value of the whole situation I would have smiled or laughed, except that I was also immediately struck by the waste of $200 that wasn’t my fault. The nice lady gave me a new sticker and a new registration card for free and I was out and on my way back to work.
That’s the story. Funny, painful, stupid and confusing. I’m out $200 for what looks like the theft of my DE license plate sticker. I have no idea who took it, or if it just fell off for some bizarre reason. I don’t even know how long its been missing. The towing company isn’t at fault, the complex isn’t’ at fault (except I think this whole situation exposes a flaw in the parking enforcement system). I’m certainly not at fault. I plan on writing letters to the condo association and the property management company they contract to plea for changes so no one else goes through this. It would be nice if they would reimburse me as well.
So what is it that God is trying to teach me in this situation? Many people were perplexed at my casual and calm approach to the whole thing, and I believe that this is an appropriately biblical response.
How about you dear reader, can you see the lesson in this adventure?
