You know, I don't ask much. Every day, day in and day out, I'm a stay-at-home mom to two little kids. My days are filled with driving to and from school, dance class, the park, and the occasional torturous baseball game. Cooking dinner, doing laundry, and wiping butts pretty much sums it up.
Come to find out, some duties stink worse than others.
A couple of weeks ago, I was going about my business like usual and I took in the mail. Then I spotted it among the stack of bills and catalogs: JUROR. I was being summoned for jury duty. Aptly named, that crap creates a feeling of dread in people few other things can match. I've been summoned for jury duty a few times in my life. Twice I was excused the night before without having to go in. Once, I did actually have to show up, but was excused in the courtroom. (I was a newspaper reporter at the time, and supposedly that wasn't the reason for my excuse, but no matter. I got out of it.)
So, jury duty is a pain in the ass; most people know this. (The ones who don't are the same ones who have never been called but claim that they WISH they would be because they would be just PERFECT for it.) I knew this already, but now I know that it becomes exponentially more ass-paining once you have children who need to be cared for while you're sitting at the courthouse with 100 other people waiting for your name to be called.
I was stressed about reporting for jury duty, partly because I hadn't in so long and had to find the courthouse and all that crap. (Crap. See?) I also hoped I wouldn't be called to be on a jury, because those two little kids at home need to be, like, cared for and stuff. I had called in special forces (my mom) to be there since Zach couldn't take the day off work. And so, I was stressed about that... I knew she wasn't feeling well, that she was worried about getting there early and in rush hour, as well as picking up Alexander from school.
Stupid jury duty and its stressful ripple effect.
Anyway, I was in good company at 8 am, sitting among a sea of bleary-eyed zombies, texting on their phones and sighing big sighs, pissed that they were starting off their week forced to perform civic duty. Although my sighs were probably the loudest. We were subjected to watch a video on jury duty and told that while it is "sometimes an inconvenience," it's an honor that we should embrace and be thankful that we live in a country that gives us such privileges. Suddenly I felt like I was back in high school driver's ed class, watching instructional videos on what to do in the event of a driving-related emergency like the hood of your car suddenly popping up and obscuring your view, but with more patriotism.
After that, it was just wait. Sit and wait.
Of course, I could do some people watching. The woman two seats down from me was the returns lady at Target. I tend to be a serial returner, so she probably recognized me too, although if she did, she never said so even though we did chat a bit. In between us sat a woman who delighted in telling me the big story regarding the mix-up with her name... she had been summoned before, but her name was incomplete on the form, and she got into it with the clerk. To put it nicely, she described her as a particularly unpleasant female dog. On and on about it... I tried to be sympathetic, but I was quickly running out of agreeable comments and faces that said "I care." After a bit of this delightful banter, she patted my arm and said excitedly, "I hope we get on a jury together!" I nodded politely and hoped that my face was in agreement.
Alas, Luz-Maria got called pretty early on. Turns out she knew one of the attorneys on the case so she was dismissed, though, so I saw her again later as she waited to be called to another jury.
As group after group was called, I became more and more anxious that my name would be among the lot. In between announcements, I read my book that Zach bought me for Mother's Day, Tina Fey's "Bossypants." It was hilarious. Normally, I will jump on any chance to get some time away to myself to read a book, even if it involves going to the dentist (which is usually when it happens). And I was mighty glad I had that book with me. However, after the first 150 or so pages, my interest started to wane and I found myself wishing that their uncomfortable plastic chairs would magically transform into my couch at home. It never did, though, and soon I found myself making trips to the bathroom just to have something to do. Everyone else in the room had similar looks on their faces, at least those who weren't actually working on their laptops and are probably quite accustomed to sitting in an uncomfortable chair under fluorescent lighting for 8 hours anyway.
I did have one celebrity sighting, though. I saw Gen. Colin Powell, even though I didn't even realize he lived in New Jersey. At least I think it was him...
In the end, I was never called. This partially elated me and partially annoyed me. I was so glad that I wasn't chosen for a jury, just in case my "I have two little kids at home and no daycare for them" excuse didn't pan out and I got roped into serving for a long term. So annoyed, however, that I sat there for an entire workday FOR NO REASON. I read a nearly 300-page book, which was good, but those chairs were a high price to pay.
Of course, I earned a day's wage. That's something I can't claim anymore. Then again, I spent that $5 already on Subway for lunch.
One nice thing was that when I got home, after my mom left, it was dinnertime already. That's a short day with the kids. Not bad! In fact, walking the streets of New Brunswick on my lunch hour in search of a decent sandwich was kind of fun - in my nice clothes, chatting on the phone with my husband, I actually felt kind of professional. This is what it would feel like if I worked and the kids were in school and daycare, I thought. Kind of cool! When I got home, I was even kind of jazzed to sit with the kids at the table at dinnertime since I hadn't seen them all day.
After an hour or so, the kids started to bicker. And annoy me. And as I resumed my normal duties of picking up toys and wiping butts, I thought of the civic one I left behind. Reading an entire book in peace and quiet, no one tugging on my leg. Conversations with adults. No laundry to do.
Ah, civic duty. You're not so stinky after all. God bless America!
