Guilty...Is How I Feel

It all started last Wednesday afternoon at 3:15 pm. I had to make the highly anticipated phone call that I'd been waiting to make since August: will I be serving jury duty or not? After being told by the gruff sounding man on the automated answering machine that "all jurors that are scheduled for Jury Duty on Thursday, November 18, 2010 are to report as scheduled to Lynn District Court at 8:00am". I believe my exact words were something along the lines of "Oh, great". So the next two phone calls I made were to Jeremy and my Mom to let them know that I would be serving. I also believe my exact words were, "I'm sure they won't pick me and I'll just wait around for a couple of hours and they'll dismiss us at10:30 and I'll be home".



Boy was I wrong.



So, bright and early Thursday morning, I woke up at 5:00 am to squeeze a Wii jog and a Wii workout in. I responded to a few emails that I knew I needed to get back to, and ate a quick bowl of cereal and was out the door at 6:30am sharp. I stopped to fill up my gas tank and I thought about stopping by the ATM really quick to grab some cash (I never carry any on me) and then I figured that every place accepts cash right?



Boy was I wrong.



So, I turned on my GPS and plugged in Lynn District Court House, and was on my merry way. I was surprised at the lack of traffic (not that I was complaining) so I arrived at the courthouse at about 7:35. I followed the directions to the public parking place on Andrew Street. OK, so far so good. I park my car made sure all of my lights were off, and made sure I had my magazine and my water bottle and my keys. Check. Check. Check. I was so wrapped up in my thoughts that I didn't notice this man come up to the side of my car. He asked if I was there for jury duty and so we walked over to the courthouse together.

My jolly new friend then pointed out that there was a parking attendant in the booth at the entrance and that parking was $5.00. So, as I approached the booth I had to laugh again because the booth for the parking attendant had a sliding door which was cracked open a little bit. It took me a few seconds to realize that there was a pair of eyes peering at me with a scowl through the crack...a little creepy if you ask me. I tried to ignore the creepy factor and figured that enough people have walked away without paying the attendant so he maybe he thought that I would do the same. So, I tried to be friendly by saying "Good morning" and all he grumbled was,



"Five dollars please!" So I started to pull out my trusty debit card, to which the attendant grumbled again



"I don't accept plastic. There's a bank ATM over across the street".



Great.



So, my jolly friend who offered to walk with me to the court house said, "I'll save you the trouble, here's five dollars. Consider this an early Christmas gift".

Then we were instructed to go down to the basement (which was more creepy than the parking garage attendant) and checked in. I was known as "Juror number 15" for the next "few hours".



Boy was I wrong.



To condense a little of my day, the "few hours" turned into 3 1/2 hours. I never have time to myself most days, maybe 1 1/2 hours when the Madore-ables are down for their naps, but seriously I thought, what am I going to do with 3 1/2 hours? I will tell you, it was the best 3 1/2 hours I've spent by myself in a long time.

1. I re-organized my wallet and made a pile of the receipts that I needed to keep and ripped up any receipts that I didn't need (into teeny tiny pieces). I will also add that I did not drop any pieces as I walked over to the recycling bin to throw them in.
2. I then read every issue of Good Housekeeping, Better Homes and Gardens, and several other "Mom" magazines from August 2010 until October 2010. So I feel that I'm quite updated on "The top 5 diets" and "The 20 best crock pot recipes for you and your family" and also made a list of websites that I saw in all of these magazines that I saw and would benefit from. (http://www.ziplist.com/, http://www.christmas.organizehome.com/, http://www.thegifttionary.com/, http://www.thefatwallet.com/, http://www.thegrocerygame.com/).
3. I then created a menu of things we'll be serving for Sarah's birthday party in a few weekends.
4. I gave myself a "manicure" minus the nail polish.
5. I wrote down a list of Christmas presents that I would love to buy if money wasn't an object.
6. I wrote down a list of Christmas presents that I would love to buy on our tight budget.
7. I wrote out this coming week's schedule with things I need to bake/make.
8. I took a 3 minute nap...the best nap I've taken in a long time.
9. I brainstormed about wedding shower ideas for a wedding I'm in next Spring.
10. I brainstormed about blogging about the day's events.

We were then told by the jury officer that there was going to be a trial. We then directed to the courtroom for jury selection. Completely not what I was expecting. Definitely not a scene from Law & Order at all. Fluorescent lighting, drab curtains and a room just screaming to be on an episode of TLC's "Trading Spaces". But I digress. So, there were about 30 jurors and we were told that only 7 would have to serve on a jury. So, the chances were slim that I wouldn't have to serve, right?

Boy was I wrong.

"Juror number 15? Jennifer Mah-door-ee? Jennifer May-door?" Ugh, I cringe at when my last name is mispronounced. I ignore it and stand and I'm told to go sit in the jury pool. Again, I think I was thinking "Fantastic!" in a sarcastic tone. Finally our little jury of 7 was picked...including the nice jolly man that walked me to the court house that morning. It was then that the judge announced that it was past 1:00 and we were to adjourn for lunch.

On the way over to lunch I was quickly reminded that just because I was chosen for jury duty, did not mean that I had it bad. Have you ever heard the quote, "I cried because I had no shoes until I met a man who had no feet"? Well, it was like a ton of bricks hit me at once because I was no sooner grumbling about the fact that I had to give up my day to serve jury duty when my jury friends and I rounded the corner, we saw a mother sitting on the sidewalk with her back to the wall and her two young children beside her...and the mother had bare feet. Thursday's weather was pretty windy and chilly in Boston, and my heart just broke when I saw that. I felt so horrible for complaining about what was going on in my life that all it took was a second to realize how much I truly had. I saved my potato chips from lunch, but unfortunately when we came back for court after lunch, the mother and her children were gone. I kept thinking about her even when we were adjourned for the day and headed home. I also learned another lesson on the way home too. I was stopped at a red light and couldn't understand why the car in front of me didn't move when the traffic light turned green: a mother and her 2 children were crossing the street to get in line for the food shelter that I had passed. I cried the entire way home.

So, needless to say, my jury duty experience has taught me some valuble lessons:

1. Be patient, for everyone is fighting a harder battle than I am
2. Be greatful, for not everyone has what you have
3. Every experience, no matter how bad is a life lesson.
4. As my friend Angela recently told me, in the end gives me a greater strength and patience that will see me through life's challenges.