unfinished business

I thought Lad's speeding ticket was a thing of the past.  Silly me.

Background:  Lad got a ticket over Christmas break LAST YEAR.  His court date got bumped to June, so he would be in town.  Well that turned into an ugly day.  Remember?  (If you haven't checked out my speeding ticket issues, I invite you to check them out here.  Full disclosure and all).

When he arrived home from New York for Christmas, I looked at him and had a momentary moment of clarity . . . these moments happen less and less.  'Hey, you needed to go back to court over Christmas break and provide paperwork to prove that you took the online class - oh my gosh!  When is that?  Do you have the paper?'

He acknowledged my statement, but brushed me off a bit with 'I got it, no worries' kind of approach.  

Yeah, right.

A week passed, and again I reminded him.  I ended up calling the court house to get the date he needed to be back at court.  I won't bore you with the details of me withholding my discovered info and how I allowed him to find the info himself - even though I had done some homework.  This mindset was met with typical, 'Come on - help me figure this out' panic mode.  It was so delightful that I was tempted to take back all of the gifts I had already purchased for him.  Oops there I go, details I promised not to bore you with.

Anyway, he eventually swore he had a handle on it.  There was some stressing about getting the paperwork off of his laptop because it was in need of repair and he wasn't sure how to print out the document.  Again, Coach and I kept our distance from the nonsense.  Of course I had insisted that he complete the online class before he returned to school in August.  He had assured me that it was taken care of.  Hmmm.

Lad texted that morning when he was done in court:  'I told you I would handle it.  It was all fine and I'm done.  No problems.'

I was trying to focus on the
 'snooze' button.
I'd post some photos
of tickets, letters
 from the court,
 and other interesting
documents - but I didn't
 feel like  digging them out. 
You know I've got 'em
though.

Imagine my surprise after Christmas when the boys were arguing about who was going to have the car the next morning.  Eddie was confused, 'Lad says he has to go to court, but I need the car for practice.  I can't be late.'  

I spun around.  Lad just shrugged.  'Relax.  I just told him that so I could have the car.'  

The next morning I was up early.   In keeping with my New Year's /birthday resolution, I was sitting in the living room praying the rosary.  It was quiet and peaceful.  I was trying to order my thoughts and take stock of life.  The big boys' room is above the living room.  I kept hearing a guttural noise.  Moaning in the form of shouting but wordless kind of shouting only teen boys are capable of achieving.   

I do love this rosary.  Very pretty.  Very old.
  It was my great aunt's.

Finally I raced upstairs to see what in the world would cause two teenage boys who so love to sleep late to be half awake and groaning barely audibly at each other in deep-voice, sleepy-grunt mode.  

Ed informed me that Lad wouldn't turn off his alarm.  He just kept hitting snooze.  

Um.  Why the early wake up, Lad?  You guessed it.  He didn't have the paperwork in perfect order the first time he went to court, so he had to go back that morning.  He was serious when he told Ed he needed the car for court, but he didn't want Coach and I to know.  Unbelievable, but yet - totally believable.  

Thus the rosary.