Officer...Can You Define Irony?

My sister has a complicated life. I love her and her life...but it is...complicated. This past week, after she arrived at our home (as a stopover on the way from Rochester NY to Woodbridge VA) with her husband and oldest son, there were...um...complications.


Jude Complication #1: They had jammed three grown adults, luggage, and christmas paraphernalia into a Toyota Scion sportscar for the 6 hour drive to us, and then the 5 hour drive beyond us to Woodbridge.


Needless to say, there were sore muscles, sore joints, sore kneecaps, and sore moods as they peeled themselves out of the car.


She immediately jumped onto the computer hoping against hope she could get a great (priceline) deal on a rental car big enough for them to continue on their journey.


Jude Complication #2: Did I mention that they also had to add their youngest son (6 foot 2 inch tall) and his luggage and christmas load to the vehicle as well?


Of course, being that it was Christmas weekend and this is the tri-state area, there were no deals, and probably no cars either. Hubby came to the rescue though and figured out we could loan them one of our cars and we could use one of my in-laws cars since it is rarely driven these days and they would be flying off to California this week anyway.


Jude Complication #3: The 6-foot kid (ok, so he's like 26) is working the day/evening they are here and can't get the last train out of NYC to meet them.


And, well, he's a kid and can't face the idea of getting up at 5AM to catch the first train out, so my sister kindly (sucker!) gets up at 5AM and drives in to Brooklyn (opposite direction from VA) and picks him up.


Okay - complications are now over and my sister (in my car) and my brother-in-law (in the Scion) departed, each with one son in tow, and made it to a lovely christmas at A's house.


BUT

I think the complications are catching.



Wenderina Complication #1: I got lost (again).


Well not really, but in my typical can't find my way out of my driveway mode, I headed west on Route 17 instead of east (after dropping off hubby to pick up my mother-in-law's car) and went about 4 exits before I caught my mistake. This made me late for a conference call, but otherwise didn't complicate my life too greatly. But it was a portent....and omen...(as hubby likes to say)

Wenderina Complication #2: In riding home in my husband's car I noted that the inspection was due to run out at the end of this month - yeah right in the middle of the holiday rush.


We considered our options and decided we should get it inspected tomorrow - the 29th of the month - and cross our fingers that nothing would stop it from earning a pass. With 120k miles and a failing exhaust system, you never know. But the last thing we wanted was to get partway home from Woodbridge VA on Jan 2nd (you know to pick up our OTHER car...oh...and celebrate New Years with our favorite sister, niece, and family) and get stopped for inspection violation.


The Final Complication (we hope)...
and the Punchline to My Story (you hope)...

Hubby got out early from work (miracle) specifically to get the car inspected one day earlier than planned. This was a lovely surprise as it would allow us to start out earlier on Saturday for Woodbridge. On the way home (in mother in law car) he came upon a routine cop stop (where they set up a place on well-travelled road to ticket cars out of compliance).


You guessed it.


He was pulled over.


Officer: Sir, do you know why I pulled you over?


Hubby: No clue, actually.


Officer: Your inspection sticker expired in July of 2007.


Hubby: Officer...can you define irony?


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Postscript: MIL car has been successfully inspected and we have the paperwork to get out of the ticket. Hubby has just departed with the other car - fingers crossed - this is the last of our complications this week.