Mom Was Right

A few years ago for Christmas, my mom gave me a coffee mug that says, "OMG, my mother was right about everything!"

This is a time where that is absolutely true.

Last weekend, I was driving Mom to brunch and as we pulled out of the neighborhood, the car behind us started blaring their sirens. Yes, that car was a cop car and they were pulling me over. I didn't think I had made any traffic violation, so I pulled in to the parking lot at Bob Evans, bewildered.

"Can I see your license, registration, and proof of insurance please?" we asked across my rolled down window. I handed them over with eyebrows raised in a combination of shock and curiosity. Why was I being pulled over?

"Did you know your tag is expired?" he asked.

"What?! No, I just got it renewed."

He then showed me that, in fact, it had expired back in October. It was now February.

After he went back into his car to do whatever cops do when they take your license and sit in their car, Mom and I tried to figure out what happened. I am facing a big increase in my living expenses and started to be concerned about having an expected ticket fee and whatever else happens when you drive with an expired tag.

When he comes back we explained that we had recently transferred the title and tag to me this summer as this was my Dad's car and he passed away the summer before. He explained that what happened was the DMV gave me a tag that was only good for 4 months. I realized what happened ... I put that sticker on the tag and not looking at the date said, "Sweet, now I'm good for 2 years!" and went on my merry way, never looking at my tag again.

Thankfully, maybe because he was kind and also maybe because I'm white (I can't tell a story about a cop without acknowledging the unfortunately real truth that it could have easily gone very differently if I had a different skin tone), he gave me a warning and said to get it taken care of.

My mom was wondering how I let it expire, "They usually send you something in the mail." I explained that sense I've not been living at my house because I'm still living with her, I don't check the mail there often and it could have gotten missed.

"You better start checking your mail! You could have checks there that you don't even know about!"

Okay, Mom.

My time at Mom's is quickly coming to an end because I am moving back into my home within the next week. That afternoon, I stopped by my house for a few things and found a few pieces of mail. I saw that one was from the Department of Treasury. It was a letter saying that I'll be soon receiving an stimulus check ... I hadn't heard of this new program so it surprised me.

But there in my hands was exactly what Mom had said, sometimes unexpected checks do come in the mail. I better start checking the mail.