Summoned

I feel fortunate to have gone thirty years without being called upon for Jury Duty. My lucky streak finally ran out when I opened a letter from the Second District Court. Bummer. I was stressing out and completely horrified, trying to conjure up some legitimate reason for not being able to do it. The fact that I stay at home with Asher, and don't have any kind of normal childcare routine made it especially annoying. Where can he go for a 9 hour day?? How could I possibly inconvenience any of my friends that badly? I know I'm not alone in feeling this way because I actually have a friend who brought her little boy with her to prove she didn't have childcare, and thus could not possibly do jury duty. I didn't have the guts to do something so bold. So I have been dutifully checking each night to see if in fact I will be forced to go downtown. My chance finally came today. There was my number, 144, staring me in the face. I think I re-checked it at least 3 times to make sure I was really seeing it right. A very kind friend in the ward had pity on me and let Asher come over to play(aka fight with her 3 year old, no doubt), and I was off. The upside: I read a big chunk of Breaking Dawn and was able to finish it yesterday; the Downside: I'm not done yet, I still have 4 days left of suspense.

Although it was pretty interesting to see how the selection process all works, I was really crossing my fingers I didn't get picked. In the end, it turns out I am not a desirable candidate for a criminal case for aggravated assault. The most entertaining part of the morning was when one of the men on my panel raised his hand and started ranting to the judge about how he believes everyone is guilty until proven innocent! He went on for a couple of minutes about his whole theory and the rest of us had a good laugh. I don't think he was picked either.

I know the power of the jury is the crux of our whole judicial system, keeping us from tyranny and all, but until kids are in school or I enter the "golden years" of my life, I think I'll keep on crossing my fingers that my turn will be skipped right over. I'll let someone else have that honor instead.