I Am A Procrastinator

I got my first speeding ticket on March 24 of this year - in a school zone, no less and in front of the kids school with the police officer right behind me in the pick up line. Not good to say the least. At least there is the option of defensive driving. I figured thirty or forty or maybe fifty bucks plus a free meal and the ticket would be gone.
Not so fast. A lot has changed since I received my last ticket in October of 1994. No longer do you just have to pay the cost for defensive driving and have it done. You have to pay certain fees at the courthouse in the city where you received the ticket before you can consider taking defensive driving. So I did that - to the tune of $132.00 BEFORE Defensive Driving! I couldn't believe it. Oh well, I thought. I have 90 days to take this course and I'll still have it taken off my driving record. It would cost me basically the same expense as paying the whole ticket, but in taking DD the ticket would be taken off my record. And now I could just take it online, be done with it, and the ticket is gone. Not so fast.
Fast forward to today, the morning of June 22. You know what today is. Of course, I just told you. Today is June 22, the 90 day deadline to turn in my Defensive Driving certificate saying that I've completed the course and get it turned in at the courthouse. No worries - I can get that done today. No so fast - again. I could get it done today, except 16 years after my last ticket, you now have to turn in a certified copy of your driving record along with your completed DD certificate. Guess how long that takes? 2-3 weeks is the best case scenario - or so it looks like. I will find out in a bit if I can go down to the DPS and get a copy of my driving record today. I don't have my hopes up. It is a government agency, and I don't suspect that they'd do anything near that quickly.
So here is my confession. I am a procrastinator. I had 90 days to complete this DD course and get a copy of my official driving record. 90 days. 3 months. 13 weeks. You know what that is. You can fill it your word. My word is ridiculous. Lazy. PROCRASTINATOR. No excuse. I'm to blame. What can I say? I didn't even read all the info I got the day I got the ticket 3 months ago. I didn't know I needed my driving record to turn in with a completed DD certificate - until today. I read it about 30 minutes ago.
I'm sure there's a life lesson to be learned from all this. More than that, I'm sure God has something to remind me of that I've probably reminded my kids of more times than I care to count. I'm a procrastinator. I'm lazy. I put off something that I had 90 days to do until the day it was due - much like a kid who puts off a homework assignment that he has a month to complete. And now, as a result of my slothfulness, I will go down to the City of Hutto and pay the remaining $58.00 balance and have a moving violation on my driving record for the first time in my married life - over 15 years. Way to go John! I can only hope and pray that it's at least that long or longer before the next moving violation. posted by John, the procrastinator