As soon as I saw the envelope, my heart was full of dread.

Department of Transportation.

Ohhh, crap.

Now, it had been mailed to me way back in July. Advising me my driver's license would expire on my birthday this year, but that I could renew it simply by completing the enclosed form and mailing it back.

A simple enough thing to do.

Simple enough it could be set aside for a more convenient time. And was promptly forgotten.

Last evening was burger night for the fraternal organization that sponsors our youth group. And, as I slipped the tight, long-sleeved shirt over my head, a lens fell into my hands.

Left lens, to be exact. From my glasses. The shirt had snagged the frames, and snapped the left side wide open.

Craaap. And I was barely pulling down at all.

So, the next ten to fifteen minutes (we would have been on time, otherwise), were spent on an increasingly frantic search for the spare, but basically huge and ugly, second pair of glasses we had bought with the broken pair. For just such an occassion.

After dumping the contents of the desk and dresser out on the bed, the memory finally came to me. I had put them someplace where I'd always have them if an emergency pair were needed while traveling.

My shaving kit.

So, attired with the huge lenses, we were off.

Burger night went well. Cooking staff was fast and organized, (They also drank more pitchers of beer than any other volunteer crew than I could remember... could there be a correlation?), we had more than enough boys to serve the diners, and there were three adults in addition to the wife and myself. Two more than we really needed.

'Course, when we got home, there was still this mess covering the entire bed. Newspapers, genealogy photocopies, boxes, plastic champagne goblets that the CSI folks would have a great time with, elk teeth, state quarters, old magazines that I no longer remember why I was keeping, more boxes...

And the envelope from the Department of Transportation.

Ohhh, crap. I knew what I would see, but I had to dig my wallet out and check.

Yup, driver's license is expired. In fact, I drove into town on the expired license on Tuesday. And our big overnight with the multiple youth groups is Friday and Saturday in Coal Mine Town, and I have to drive for that, not to mention I abso-positively have to get to Regional Town on Friday to fetch the skull and fur collections. Not to mention get to the day-long sage grouse meeting today.

No way I can function without a driver's license. And when you let them expire, the simple fill-out-a-form option is no longer an option. I really, really thought I was screwed.

So, a couple minutes before the DoT office opened at 08:00 this morning, the wife dropped me off on her way to work. And I'm there pestering the nice Driver's License gal before she's even got her computer turned on and warmed up. Hoping I can remember the alcoholic drinks vs weight chart that is always on the test.

But no test.

Just the form, and the eye exam.

Hallelujah! I even made it to the eight-thirty meeting on time, even after making the wife leave work to come pick me up and take me home for the truck.

And tomorrow morning, I'm on the highway to fetch bones and furs, with a few stops along the way to collect plant specimens.

So. Murphy's Law being what it is, I just know if I hadn't found that envelope, I would have been pulled over for some piddly thing either tomorrow (today, actually, now) or Saturday, and then the nice officer would have explained how I was driving on an expired license...

So, the wife dropped my broken frames off at the jeweler's. Perhaps they can be welded. But even if they can't...

I'm glad they broke.