Not quite a native Ripley Countian - she attended only her last year of high school in Doniphan though she taught in the R-1 system for 32 years - Teresa (Pearson) Lee delights in surprising readers and herself with anecdotal observations of life in general. Maybe you can blame her St.Louis roots for a quirky humor and some slightly-askewed opinions, but never doubt she writes from the heart.

Living Like the Jetsons

Posted Wednesday, August 10, 2022, at 11:02 AM

One week and a day after I received the renewal notice and processed it online, I received the sticker! No mole hills to make into mountains this year!;)

For August 10 2022

It was among the snail mail. Instantaneously I sensed (1) anxiety about the process ahead, (2) procrastination strategies and (3) insecurity. The trigger? A renewal notice for my car tags.

First thing I did NOT do was file it in a ‘safe’ place for ready access on the last day business could be transacted to avoid penalty. That escalates the likelihood of driving blissfully ignorant with expired tags. At some point a neighborly officer will educate you.

Incredibly I have made each of the following blunders. (1) Forgot inspection. That’s a genuine last-minute hassle. Appointments are needed and fewer places do them. (2) Forgot proof of insurance. Another ‘lost’ item filed away for safe-keeping. (3) Forgot proof of paid personal property tax. Just call off the search and visit the courthouse on the way to the license bureau. (4) Forgot where the license bureau was. They can and do relocate. (5) Forgot checkbook. Purse-digging in public is embarrassing. Not finding what you’re digging for is the pinnacle of humiliation. (6) Forgot which car I was renewing - of course on the rare occasion of having every. single. thing. I needed but for the OTHER car.

Solutions? (a) Have only one car at a time. (b) Have a car with fewer than 149,000 miles - no inspection necessary. (b) Keep insurance card in the glovebox. (c ) Use option to renew for two years. But…what if…I get a different car…have I wasted $$? Decisions. (d) Write on calendar last day to renew, then make inspection appointment BEFORE that day. (e) Don’t misplace calendar. (f) Drive by the DMV office BEFORE the chore date to make sure it’s there. (g) Stick post-it note reminder on steering wheel to go by courthouse on the way to the license bureau.

Wait! I can do all this online now? How? Our county collector Marcia Tackett chooses to back up county receipts with the Mo Dept of Rev, that’s how. The DMV has step-by-step directions ON THE RENEWAL NOTICE simple enough even I could maneuver around the website.

So - on THE day the notice arrived and almost 60 days before the deadline - I decided to give it a whirl. In less time needed to determine the safest place to file the notice, my renewal was complete! Anxiety, procrastination and insecurity conquered with a few taps on a keyboard.

"Oh lord, it's hard to be humble." (Mac Davis)