Spectacularly Ordinary Moments: On Probation

Over the weekend my parents arrived in Springville. On Saturday we helped them unpack and drop the moving truck off at the Home Depot. It is so good to have them here. They have made a lot of progress in getting their house set up. I love seeing so much of the furniture that I grew up with here in Springville. They seem really pleased with their home, and that makes me happy.

Kirsten and Reagan seem really happy about having their grandparents down the street, too. Reagan has said a couple of adorable prayers: "Thank you that we have such a wonderful Nana" and "Please bless that we can stay at Nana's house forever." To top it all off, the girls have received about a million new toys and books from my childhood that my parents brought out with them. They especially like the Ariel dolls and the Babs and Buster Bunny. It makes me happy to see them enjoy my old toys so much.

This morning was my court date for Porter. When I arrived at the Police Court at City Hall, I was surprised to realize that it was actual court. I know that sounds dumb, but I really wasn't imagining standing up in front of a judge and having to plead guilty or not guilty. However, the worst part was that I had to wait about an hour for my turn while listening to all of the other cases. One man even went to jail. Of course, I knew I wasn't going to be going to jail over my dog getting loose, but my imagination started to go a little wild as I waited. As a rule follower, I was a little out of place.

When it was my turn, I plead guilty and explained that we forgot that our fence was under repair when we let the dog out in the morning. The prosecutor suggested lowering the fine to $100 instead of $299, which was about what I expected. While I was waiting for my paperwork, the prosecutor asked me if all the geese were okay at the farm. Apparently he lives quite close to the Hall's farm. So, he knew what Porter had done when he was "at large." In a small-ish town there is no hiding even the worst of our criminal offenses from the city prosecutor. Fortunately, all of the geese were okay. More importantly, my court case is done. Oh, Porter and I are now on probation for six months. We won't be wearing GPS trackers, but if he gets out again, the consequences could be pretty expensive.