The irony of an errand

Today is September 30th, the last day of the month and the last chance I would have to get my new car tags, seeing as September is my birthday (which I'm pretty sure I covered in an earlier post, but would hate for you to forget). And by the way, I think that is a cruel slight of hand...Happy Birthday!! Now write us a check for $75. The only person I know who gets around this is my husband who was born in March. When he bought his SUV, the brain surgeon who filled out his paperwork put "MA" for his birth month so now the DMV thinks he was born in May. Therefore we get 30 days of birthday bliss before the little pink and white postcard appears in the mail. Anyway, I decided that since I had to venture into downtown on a Monday morning anyway, that I would go ahead and set up my business license for Daisy & Elm, LLC (website is www.daisyandelm.com but it's so not finished yet...so give me a couple of weeks before you log in and do all of your Christmas shopping). I was instructed to go to the Government Building, which is sort of intimidating considering there is a big sign on the outside door that reads "All Visitors Must Sign In With Security". I was curious about what kind of security and annoyed by the capitalization of in and with. But I went in anyway.

The Government Building is adorned with lots of crown molding and reliefs of ivy and leaves around the ceiling. It contains one of the "painted horses" that were all the rage 10 years ago and 2 security guards that are obviously retired from some other employment (and enjoy their retired wife's homecooking every morning) but they are very friendly (I would be too if someone made me waffles and bacon/egg sandwiches in the middle of the week). They pointed me in the direction of the Revenue Department (to which I thought yes, it will be your revenue, even if it's not mine). When I got to Revenue, she handed me a small stack of paperwork to fill out and directed me to the Zoning and Building Permit Department because my business will technically be conducted from within my home. So, off I went to Zoning.

Upon arriving at Zoning, I was told that someone would be right with me. And when that someone walked around the corner, it was my first ex-fiance. Now, for those of you playing at home, there were a total of 4 fiances with the 4th being the husband that I was so lucky to marry. Upon looking back at the circumstances of my life, I absolutely believe that God had, as Rascal Flatts said it best, "blessed the broken road that led me straight to you". But that does not mean that the road never intersects with a previous road. I'm pretty sure it happens in San Francisco all the time. Unfortunately for you all, it was a pretty basic conversation with all of the "How are your parents? How is your wife/husband? Where are you living now? How is work?" and then "here is your paperwork for your business. Good luck and it was nice to see you again." Very boring, as far as scandalous blog posts go. And although it was nice to see him again after all of these years and know that if we wanted to go that route, we could actually be friends without re-living War of the Roses, I am reminded of one other song. Garth Brooks once wisely composed: We tried to talk about the old days; There wasn't much we could recall. I guess the Lord knows what he's doin after all. And as she walked away and I looked at my wife; And then and there I thanked the good Lord; For the gifts in my life. Amen, brother. (Now, the name of that song is Unanswered Prayers, which I think is a load of hogwash because I think God answers EVERY prayer, but maybe Garth and God were still ironing that out when he wrote the song.)

At any rate, it was a bit of a shock followed by relief and finally peace. And at the end, I had to come home and take a nap because that is a lot of emotion to process without much tequila.