Oops

Yesterday I had one of those “I can't believe I did that" days. Every year we all get our vehicle registration stickers that we have to apply on the windshield. I pulled out the sticker from the envelope and found the same razorblade tool that I have used for several years to scrape the old sticker off. It took about 15 minutes to scrape off the old glue and then I applied the new sticker. I felt like I'd just completed eight hours worth of work, so I opened the door to admire my art. It doesn't take much to impress an old retiree but when I saw that I had replaced the vehicle inspection sticker instead of the vehicle registration sticker, I yelled out some words that would make a sailor proud. I swear those two stickers look the same on the inside looking out.

I then went inside to tell my wife what I had done, and she didn't disappoint because she asked the rhetorical question, I expected “why did you do that?" It's a good thing. I didn’t make that mistake with her Prius, or she might have said more than that.

As I got into the vehicle, I found out that my windshield dispenser was dry, but it didn't matter because the windshield was covered with old caked up bird poop and so was the rest of the truck. I drove with extra caution to the car wash because I feared of being stopped for a traffic violation and compounding it with a ticket for no registration sticker. Who knows, I may look like the auto thief they are looking for. I still possessed that fear, until I entered the driveway of the service station that was going to rectify my problem. I've told my embarrassing story to the mechanic, he smiled and 20 minutes later it was as if nothing had happened except my wallet was $14.50 lighter... That's an extra $14.50 because I still had months left on my old sticker.

When I got home, my wife was on the phone, but she swore she didn't her friends. I know that she told my daughter because that evening my grandson called and said" you should've called me." There are things like changing out filters, batteries, and stickers where help is not needed but thinking back, what if I just would've kept my mouth shut and drove to the service station without telling my wife? I'll survive but rest assure next year it will take twice as long, but I will only remove the vehicle registration sticker.