According to Plan

Sometime in my unorganized haze, I realized that I had not gotten my renewal notice to renew the registration and license plate for the van.

Normally, I would have just renewed the thing online the day I got it. But for some reason this year, they didn't send me one or it got lost. Which in all honesty, is probably what happened that or one of the kids ate it.

Since, I came to this realization over the weekend and my birthday is Thursday and we are leaving on Thursday, that left me little time get it renewed. I figured that it couldn't wait until we came home because, just my luck, my parents would be driving our van around and get pulled over for expired license plates.

The Secretary of State's office is only open during normal business hours aka 9am to 5pm, so going after Jeff gets home from work was not an option. I decided that I was just going to have to go during the day and take the kids with me.

I know, I know. Commit me to the loony bin now. I am totally crazy for trying to do this but I was really left with no choice.

All morning, I psyched myself up for the adventure. After naps we were going to go. I filled my arsenal with multiple tricks; DVD player, juice, snacks, DS, Leapster, coloring books, crayons, books to read, a Costco size bag of chocolate chips, etc. I was the entertainment and distraction queen.

I told myself to just expect some tantrums. I prepared myself to get scoffed at and judged. I readied myself to deal with falls, snot and poopy diapers. I was truly ready for anything and prepared to wait for days or so it felt from the weight of my diaper bag.

In a last ditch effort make a successful trip, when we got to the SoS office, I turned around in the van and addressed the kids. I told them what we were doing. I begged Jake, Quinn and Claire to please stay in the stroller. I told Hayden how proud I was of him when he acted like a big boy. I promised treats and play time at the mall for good behavior. And, I am not proud of it, I begged on my knees them to listen and obey.

They all gave me that 'your crazy, mom' look but agreed to my requests. I accepted but wondered how long this would last.

My hope began to fade and I saw failure on horizon when I couldn't get Hayden to walk with me across the parking lot because he had to check out each shiny item he saw.

But I was in too deep. We were here now and come hell or high water, we were going to get my license and registration renewed.

As we reached the door, I took a deep breath, said a little prayer and opened it. I expected to find a room to be full of people. I expected every chair to be taken and people spilling out into the lobby. I expected to have to try and maneuver my huge stroller around tons of people all while trying not to knock over some little old lady in a walker.

I expected all of that but what I actually saw what much, much different. In fact the office was just about EMPTY. That's right, there were only a hand full of people there. Now that I think about it, I may have even seen a tumble weed blowing through there.

I walked right up to the counter, told the woman what I needed and she helped me. No taking a number. No moving to the next line. She just helped me. She even made small talk with me and the kids.

The whole transaction took less than 5 minutes. Actually, it took me more time to get the kids in the stroller and into the office than it did for them to process and renew my license.

As we walked back to the car, Hayden looked up at me and asked, "Mom? When are we going to have to sit in the chairs so I can play my game?"

I looked at my registration paper and I looked at Hayden but I didn't have an answer. All I could muster to answer his question was a shoulder shrug. I was sorta in a state of shock.

I had always heard of these things happening but it rarely ever happens to me. It is just such a weird feeling when things go according to plan. Simple, easy, quick.