Civil infractions

So I'm at the court house to fight this speeding ticket today. My court time listed is at 2:15 in courtroom 1B. The clerks tell me to sit in the hallway outside the courtroom and wait until 2:15 to go in. I navigate down the hallway, and right outside courtroom 1B, there's an entire wedding party congregating. There must have been at least 15 or 16 people/family members there to celebrate this older couples wedding.

They were all taking turns taking pictures of each other and I gathered the wedding had just taken place.....in the same courtroom I was about to go fight this traffic ticket in. I offered to take a picture of them all, but they declined. It felt kind of weird being there in my big stupid winter coat and jeans holding a traffic ticket in my hand while standing next to these people who had just embarked on this sacred journey at life together with all their kids and family around them.

So, the police officer shows up at like 2:02, and I'm like "shoot, I was really hoping you had the flu or something today"...he told me he'd had the flu the week before unfortunately for me and the timing of this court date. He's my neighborhood cop, and a good guy..I told him the only hopes I had at winning this case would be a dismissal if he hadn't showed up. So we're talking about points on licenses and all this stuff and he's telling me to to ask the judge about that class you can take online and all. At about 2:13 he says, "lets go in, the judge will see us and come out " so we both head in and sit on the left side together and keep chatting.

So the judge comes in a minute later, and all of a sudden, this entire wedding troupe comes through the door to get married. All of them........ and me, and Officer Lopez. So I'm like "shouldn't we leave?" to Officer Lopez, and he's like "no, its a public courtroom".

I felt so awkward being there. They're all talking and hugging and excited, and getting situated and sort of looking over at me and Lopez and wrapping their heads around the realization that we're in this thing with them and you know, that's the sacrifice you make when you decide to get married in a courthouse.

"Are you sure we should be here? I feel like we shouldn't be here"..."no, you're fine" Officer Lopez assures me.

If It wasn't awkward enough, it didn't help when the judge of courtroom 1B shouted out to the people about to get married who were talking with all their friends and family in the back of the courtroom "Hey, can you get up here and start, I'm running behind schedule" . I cringed...me and my puffy coat and jeans clinging my traffic ticket in my right hand.

We watched the whole wedding, it was beautiful. The groom cried, the bride was solid; no tears from her wells. It was interrupted slightly by the other two couples that came in halfway through with their own traffic violations. According to officer Lopez, those were much worse than mine...they were looking at several points for their infractions. They looked pretty rough on the outside, but I felt a little more at ease about my own presence in that courtroom when they added themselves.

So I lost the traffic case. But, I did get to awkwardly insert myself into these complete strangers wedding, so how about that? If I had to draw a moral to this story it would be this: if you're low on cash and you really want to get married , opt for a drunk Elvis in Vegas, or your parents backyard, or BW3's with a minister who got his right to do nuptials on the internet....Please do it ANYWHERE except that courthouse!! I'm sorry strangers for cheapening your vows today, I was just trying to keep my insurance rates down!!

When leaving the courthouse, I ran into a small crowd of spectators staring at a robot rolling around and its programmer with a remote in his hand showing off its features. It dances and can tell you what courtroom you're in. They were talking about ideas in programming the robot to be site specific to the courthouse. I suggested it comfort people who just lost their case by making them a margarita and saying things like "you should have gotten a better lawyer". So if this ever comes to fruition, you'll know who to thank next time you leave the courthouse crying with a Margarita in your hand. It would have been a huge help for that couple that just got married...it could have thrown rice in their faces as they left the building through the security checkpoint.