Greetings From the Jailbird

I SO badly want to write a post that weaves a fictitious tale of how I was arrested for failure to appear at jury duty orientation. I have thought through how fun it would be to get people all riled up and having the word spread around the internet. What a great publicity stunt it would be!

But, you know, I don't know enough about being arrested, going to jail, or the legal process to keep it up for very long. (though I guess I could have called a family member or three to ask for details....hahahaha) So, instead, you continue to get the truth from me. It ain't glamorous, but that's what I've got.

After spending almost 24 hours worrying about the cops showing up at my house, I finally got ahold of the proper person to apologize for and explain my absence. She was very nice. I even got to tell her why I had been asking to be excused (even though I sent them a full page letter weeks ago!). After I got through Phase One of my excuse (the kids, and homeschooling, and not having any local relatives that could help me out) she said, "HOW many kids did you say you have?!" "Six." "That's what I thought you said. Wow." And with that she let me off the hook, easy as can be. It was too late for me to officially be excused, so instead I was put "On Call" which, she told me technically means they can call me in if they run out of other jurors, but she says that's never happened here.

I thanked her for being so nice, apologized again, and then said that although I had been a little worried about going to jail, I figured it might have been a good break for me. She laughed quite a bit at that.