i fought the law and the law won

It's one of those dreaded moving chores: going to the DMV to transfer your license and registration. I probably would have let it go longer, but the registration was up on one of our cars. Now usually WonderHubs would handle this so that only one of our days would be disrupted, but on the day in question he didn't have all the documents that would be required. As luck would have it, I did. Numerous identifying documents in hand, off I went to the DMV on a beautiful Friday afternoon.

I went to the main county branch, got a number and waited. 30 minutes and one "smile, but not with your teeth," later, I had a new license. I got a new number to register the cars. We'd overlooked that the title was in WonderHubs' name. I was given a form for him to sign and told to come back. All in all, fairly painless; in fact, everyone was incredibly pleasant and helpful.

WonderHubs had already been "working from home" (as much as one does with 8 kids running around) for several hours at this point, so I headed home so that he could sign the form and get back to work. We would just have to spend Saturday morning at the DMV. What a waste though. Who wants to spend Saturday morning at the DMV? I certainly didn't. I had a brilliant idea. I'd just take the kids and get it done that afternoon. The first time around wasn't too bad. Wouldn't WonderHubs be surprised?!?!

We arrived a few minutes after 4. We waited on line to get a number. Actually seven of us waited. The littlest took off and ran a squealing lap around the DMV whilst my oldest gave chase, eventually catching him and making her way back to us. Number in hand we looked for 9 seats to wait in. We managed to find 7 over the span of two rows. I stood holding wiggly Mr. 3 year old. Various games of "I Spy" and "I'm Not Touching You" ensued. The older ones practiced their eye rolling skills. We had a contest to see who could say, "Can we go now?" the most times. It certainly wasn't ideal, but we passed the time. Forty-five minutes later, our number was up!

I asked my oldest to watch Mr. 3 year old, who I had intentionally kept with me so as not to wear her out, and approached the desk of a lovely woman who was working at the DMV at 4:50 on a beautiful Friday afternoon. Still, I had all my documents ready, so it should have been fairly painless. My 8 year old made his way to my lap and proceeded to see if he could find Jupiter in the eye test machine. Gleeful shouting was coming from behind me. I turned and gave the oldest a look that I hoped would communicate the need to occupy her brother. This did not work and he continued to scream.

The woman at the desk informed me, "Your insurance documents aren't effective until tomorrow."

What on earth? We've had the same insurance for ages, but if you print your documents at home, they will have the following day's date on them. I would have to call the insurance company. From the DMV. With 8 kids in tow.

Three year old shrieks continue.

From the other side of the room came a warning, "Ma'am, if you can't keep him quiet, you are going to have to leave." This time, phone in hand, I got up, walked over to the angelic children who were clearly just misunderstood by the DMV lady (ha). Through clenched teeth, I uttered something about playing quietly with him and not being disruptive. I dialed the insurance company and headed back to the desk where my paperwork and the DMV lady waited.

But then as I sat there trying to explain my situation to the insurance rep, a rush of wind swept by me. Why, that was my 3 year old. He ran past me and behind a row of desks occupied by other DMV workers. An exasperated teenager stopped at my chair and started to mount her case as to why it wasn't her fault. I took off after the child who seemed determined to be my undoing. Out of breath, I tried to continue my conversation with the insurance agent, apologize to the numerous affected employees and carry an unsatisfied 3 year old back to his seat. "Just a few more minutes," I mouthed pleadingly to the oldest 4 kids. I was desperate.

As I sat down I glanced at the clock and realized it was now a couple minutes after 5. The woman at the desk asked if the insurance agent was ready to fax new documents over. He was not. It would still be a few more minutes. There was more commotion in the background, of course coming from my children. With the insurance documents not ready and the loud children in the background, and it being after 5, the woman at the desk, understandably, let me know that it was time for me to leave.

And that is how I got kicked out of the DMV. WonderHubs sure was surprised.