Drive

Subtitle: I love L.

You know what's awesome?  Being proactive about things.  For example, re-ordering your car registration tags as soon as the notice hits your mailbox and then immediately putting them on your license plates as soon as they come in the mail.  You know what's not awesome?  Doing both of those things and then losing the tags because the old ones didn't peel right off.  Allow me to explain.

My car registration and inspection were due to expire on May 31.  I got the notice in the mail about the registration in April and immediately sent in my check.  The stickers arrived a couple of weeks later and upon receipt, I marched RIGHT out to my car and attempted to peel off the old ones so that the new ones could go on and I'd be all legal and legit as I tooled around NoVa and DC.  Except, as stated above, the old ones didn't just come right off.  Nay, they were completely uncooperative.  Apparently my 2011 stickers developed quite the bond with my license plates (literally!  HA!  I'm just so funny).  So I decided to put a halt to my project and use a razor blade at a later date to peel off the old and apply the new.  I told myself OUT LOUD that the stickers were going in the console of my car, which they did.  But then I kept forgetting about the razor blade and eventually I forgot about the stickers altogether.

Then May 31st rolled around and I realized that, oh crap, I need to get my inspection completed, oh, you know, BEFORE JUNE 1.  It took 4 tries, but I finally found a place that would inspect my car on Tuesday afternoon.  I got home and was determined to find the license plate stickers and immediately dug through my entire car looking for them.  I came up empty handed.  I remembered I'd cleaned out my car since I'd gotten the stickers, so next I ransacked the living room, my nightstand, my vanity, the office... literally everywhere I thought those stickers might be, but all to no avail.  I was dreading calling L and bringing him into the situation.  I just knew he'd give me a lecture about being more organized at home and not losing stuff.  Instead of calling him, I looked up the instructions on how to replace missing license tags and posted the following status on FB:

Dear Self 3 Weeks Ago,

What did you do with the 2012 car registration stickers that day when you tried to put them on but discovered that the old ones wouldn't peel right off? I thought we agreed on the console in the car but I'm unamused by my inability to locate them today. Please advise.

Thanks,
Team LC

Then I went outside and compared my plates with the neighbors' cars up and down the street to see how conspicuous my car would be if I couldn't find the new tags.  The weird part was that my tags matched one neighbor's, so I was getting really confused because they just seem too responsible to lose license tags or to not apply theirs in a timely manner.  Anyway, apparently I'm not the only one out there that this happens to, as I got several replies from friends stating that they were in the same state.   Nice, but that doesn't stop a husband from smirking.  I took a break from searching and during that time, L apparently got on FB, saw the status update and ensuing messages, and this was his retort:

Dear Wife,

You left them on the mantle, so I put them on your license plates. About two weeks ago. 

Respectfully Submitted,
L

My heart sang with joy at the fact that I'm NOT crazy and that I didn't lose the stickers.  The rest of me laughed at my own stupidity, particularly the part where I stared at the right tags on my plates and couldn't figure out what was wrong.  For the record, the new tags say MAY 12.  Yeah, that had me stumped.  But at least I can laugh about it.   In other news, I AM AWESOME.  Also I love that L was kind enough to put the new stickers on my car for me.  Sweet husband.