Sunday, June 10, 2007

breakin' the law. . . .or laws as the case may be.

The other night we went to Jalisco's for dinner as it was insanley hot, and my stove is a beast in this house if the weather gets hotter than 85. As always I walked away from Jalisco's heavy with corn chips and fresh salsa (yum,yum)--feeling madly dissapointed that I wimped out AGAIN and didn't order the shrimp fajitas. I also am so thankful that those Mexicans cross the border and while they may take our jobs they give us so much good food. Hey, I can't complain.

Today it got me thinking though about illegal immagration and illegal this and illegal that. I had the interesting experience last year (during our soujourn overseas) of actually being an illegal immagrant for a short period of time. The only time we had a close call was when a policeman was doing a routine check and asked to see Ben's passport and he had left it at home. (yeh, Ben!) But whenever I saw the "guarda di finanza" I did always shuffle along and tried not to look too foreign. ( Always a hard thing when you are carrying a backpack carrier and talking to an English speaking child.) I also had to figure out where to buy things, how to speak that crazy vowelly jibberish spoken in Italy, and how things worked in a foreign environment. I felt like a Mexican all the time for the first four months there. But I also learned that it is not easy and that the people who are patient and smile kindly and try to teach you Italian are gems. So in the end I have a lot more sympathy for Mexicans than I used to. And even if they are illegal, I suddenly realized that there are many things I do on a regular basis and have done that are illegal too. So I certainly cannot cast the first stone. . . . and so far I am certainly not walking the straight and narrow.

Here goes:

1. Buying raw milk in church parking lots.
2. I have drunken alcohol underaged, and given alcohol to underaged people in my own home. (wait that second one might actually not be illegal, I'm not sure. . . . But I did see a sign the other day that said "Parents who host, lose' whatever the heck that means. Probably parents who don't teach and encourage responsible drinking by drinking with their children in a responsible manner lose. . . . but that's too long for a sign)
3. I have trespassed.
4. I have homebirthed.
5. I have owned livestock in an residential zoned neighborhood.
6. I have stayed illegally overseas for six months without proper paperwork.
7. I earned 4000 swiss francs which I never declared on my taxes because I was paid in cash overseas.
8. I have rented out part of my house which is not in an area zoned for high density rentals. (well actually I share my house
with lovley folk who give me generous cash gifts every month (wink)
9. I have had fires before 4:00 pm
10. I have gone above the speed limit.
11. I have jaywalked.
12. I have run red lights. (well this was mostly by accident)


Well that's enough for one night. Are we all shocked by my criminal record!!?? I assure you when I am not keeping illegal chickens I am really quite harmless.

Shucks. even as I speak I am hopping on the neighbor's internet. I know, shamless, shamless.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

You forgot to mention those overdue library books, you shameless criminal. My deepest, darkest secret is the fact that I STILL have not returned "Slappy the Duck" to the Peru Public Library, where I checked it out in 1958. I expect the library police to knock on the door any day now.
Mama

Margaret E. Perry said...

we also rode bikes without helmets a lot when we were kids..

Anna said...

true and true. Wow my family and friends are all criminals too. Is there any hope?

Anonymous said...

I jaywalked once on my way to church in Ohio and got stopped by a really crabby policeman. It gave me a real complex. I find myself going out of my way to walk home just so I'm always crossing at green lights.

Anonymous said...

I didn't think giving birth at home was illegal! I wish I had that option!