Wanna know how to get your heart rate up? Wake up, wander to the office, past the front door, notice a white piece of paper taped to the window of the door. Check it out, realize that it is a bench warrant. For your youngest son. Realize it's for a speeding ticket that he gave to you at your insistance to help him remember to pay in time. Realize that you did not even think about it again after you put it in a place where you would have to see it every day so that you wouldn't forget it. Realize that this place is the "in" basket, where the cat decided she wanted to sleep. Then realize that you'd put other papers on top, because March was such a long way off, there's no way you wouldn't dig through the whole basket again by that time, so there was nothing to worry about. And just for kicks and giggles, realize that your youngest son is driving home after school and could easily be picked up and put into jail because he was relying on you to remind him.
Yeah. Fun morning.
Jake has ADD, and has a very difficult time with time management. I, on the other hand, generally remember dates and times and phone numbers and such with a freakish accuracy. I wanted him to hand over the ticket so that he wouldn't forget.
Yup, great going there, mom.
So as soon as he got home from school (luckily he gets out in the morning), we rushed to the courthouse, went through about 1500 hoops, up and down the elevator a half-a-dozen times, but we got it paid, got it set up so that he can take a driving class and, once he does, have the ticket expunged from his record.
Whew.
Posted by toni at March 18, 2004 02:59 PMOuch.
I've screwed up like that with my kids before. The worse was when I didn't mail my son's SAT app in time for him to take the SAT the day he needed to to be eligible for National Merit Scholar. And he scored high enough that it was an issue. (sigh)
To reverse your situation, I was at the hospital with my mom, waiting for her surgery, when my cell phone rang. It was my youngest son calling to let me know a deputy had been by the house with a warrant for my arrest.
Yep, I'd forgotten about a traffic ticket.
Ouch. And ouch.
Posted by: pooks at March 18, 2004 04:46 PMworst, not worse -- I knew that. (sigh)
Posted by: pooks at March 18, 2004 04:47 PMI ~almost~ did that with the ACT, too. (We do ACT instead of SAT.) That was lask week's panic.
Now I'm frantically looking over anything that may have had a deadline this week, because god only knows what else I have forgotten to do.
Posted by: toni at March 19, 2004 12:38 AMThat sounds like something *I* would do! Good Lord.
Posted by: Amanda at March 19, 2004 10:41 AMYou can "help" him forever. Which he is probably thankful for.
Posted by: Corey at March 19, 2004 09:51 PM