I Want My "Good Citizen Award" and I Want it NOW!

If those awards are in short supply, I want my "patience under extreme circumstances" award.


First of all, I had to go to the Bureau of Motor Vehicles on my "lunch" hour, which I didn't get to take until 3 in the afternoon. Work was so hectic I could barely breathe, and it never really stopped at any point. I had to leave at 3, though, because my boss had somewhere she had to be by 5, so if I waited too much longer, I wouldn't have made it out the door. Just going to the BMV....I won't explain further. I just had to wait an hour, because the computers were offline, which is the usual drill.


So, I left there and went back to work. I left at five to go vote. Right as I was getting ready to leave, about ten emergency vehicles went zooming past my job. I figured they were going to the biggest plat in the town....which is where most emergency vehicles are headed if they pass my job.

So, I let a few minutes pass, and I headed out to the driveway. At 5 p.m., it can be touch and go getting out of the driveway. I sat there and sat there, waiting for a chance to get out of the drive. I was there at least five minutes. If I turned right (which is the way the EMT vehicles went) I could get out. If I turned left, I would have an idefinite wait. Against my better judgement, I ended up going right.

After getting on the highway, I would be one exit...about 1/2 a mile from my exit....and I could vote and be on my way.

Pulling off the exit, I realized my mistake. Directly off my exit on the highway was what looked to be a fatal accident. I couldn't get on the highway or off. I was stuck there for 45 minutes, waiting. I watched my gas guage go from 1/2 to 1/4. People were pulling off the ramp, backing off the ramp, going into the grass, etc.

Finally, we were back on the highway. Cars were towed, cleanup was done, we moved! We moved for about 1/4 a mile. Suddenly, we stopped. Guess what? Two semis wrecked on the same highway, IN FRONT OF MY OTHER EXIT! I was in that backup for another 45 minutes before they started letting people go around. My gas guage was pushing empty when I got to the Board of Elections. (Had to go there because I failed to change my address when I moved out into the country.) SMART, huh?

Anyway, it was 6:45 by the time I got there. Remember, I left work at 5 p.m., so it took me 1 hour and 45 minutes to go less than a mile!

When I got in the building, the line was snaked around the entire hallyway. I'd estimate roughly 150 people were in line. I didn't get out of there until about 7:15 pm.

By this time I am sure that my husband thought I was dead or moved out of state. My cel phone battery died because I was passing time in the van during the traffice backup by playing a game on the phone. I got one call out to Jess before it died, telling her I was stuck in traffic (the 1st accident) and I didn't know how long it would be.

What was shocking is when I left the Board of Elections, I could see from the road I was on that there was ANOTHER accident on a DIFFERENT part of the same highway the first two accidents were on. I'm starting to wonder if that was some sort of record!

I still had two stops to make, one at the grocery store, because the guinea pigs were out of food. The other was to the libary to return some Spanish learning materials, but I decided enough was enough for one night. I have that on my list of things to do tomorrow.

So, it's late and it's been a long day. I am starting to think that Ellie is right when she said this may just be a week full of Mondays. Wheh!

I do think I should get some sort of award for managing to vote under perilous circumstances. :)

If this post has typos, I don't care. I will fix them tomorrow when I am awake enough to care.

Hope you had a better day. :) Funny thing is, despite all the weird events and unplanned snafoos, I didn't ever get really tense or stressed. Part of it is that I am starting to enjoy ANY alone time I can get. I was stuck in traffic. No one could ask me to do a project STAT or yell, "Mom, I need you to sign a form for me," or "Mom, can you help me with my homework?" It was just me, the radio, and no place to go.

I might need a vacation. Seriously. :)

Have a good night! More later.