Stuck

When we bought our house in Arizona, we removed a small cactus bush in the backyard by the pool. I had nothing against desert landscaping, but the cactus was just planted a little too close to a spot where the kids might whiz by in bathingsuited bottoms. Unfortunately, that lone cactus was the last of our native landscaping, so we wound up having a pretty grassy leafy Phoenix yard but at the same time the kids and I managed to leave Arizona without getting stuck by a single cactus.

But come to find out, I still got stuck in another way.

Around a month before we moved away, I got a ticket in the mail for a red light violation snagged on a camera in Scottsdale. It wasn't a blow through the light kind of thing, I had already pulled partially into the intersection to make a turn, when the light started changing and I followed the car in front of me. A violation for sure, but something we've all done. So I could pay the ticket or attend the court date. Since the court date was the day after we were scheduled to fly to Boston for our final move, I paid the hefty fine online.

But that isn't the end of it.

In Arizona, once you are convicted of running a red light (which I now am, by paying the fine and "admitting" my guilt), you have to attend a defensive driving class. So now, I have to take a class here in Massachusetts and fax proof to Arizona DOT. In the meantime, my license has a flag on it and I can't proceed in getting at Mass license, or I can, but as the AZDOT gal said I probably shouldn't.

The class is, of course around $500, not to mention the time I'll spend doing it. Apparently, I'm a crazy red light running mini-van Momma who deserves to get slapped with the full extent of the law.

Ouch.