Date: 2008-02-23
To: A Proper Sendoff
Miles today: 0.0

Tonight was our "Happy Trails/Happy Birthday" party, since Ground Control's birthday is on Monday, and I (as you know) am leaving to hike the trail. We had a lot of friends and family over, and a lot of laughs. One of my friends gave me a big bag o' dehydrated food, another gave me a gift card to EMS, and one of my grad school friends gave me an 'Emergency Envelope' with some phone cards and singles, and an 'In Case of Boredom' envelope that I will open on the Trail. It feels good to have so many supportive people in our lives - Ground Control had MANY offers from people to come over for dinner while his wife is gone!My husband's band really wanted to play, so we made sure they played early and didn't have the volume up too loud to avoid disturbing the neighbors. They had just stopped played at 8 p.m., and were loading the drums in the car out front, when two uniformed policemen walk through our back door! They walked in so casually, I said "Hello officers!" as if it was perfectly normally to have two police officers appear unexpectedly in your living room. They asked what apartment number this was ¢ they looked so uncertain I thought maybe they were in the wrong place. Then they asked if we were hosting a karaoke party, and when I admitted that was us, they started lecturing me. "You can't have bands playing or loud music in an apartment; you can get evicted for this." Then they asked me "Do you live here?" I said, "Yes, me and my husband." (I didn't mean to throw him under the bus, but hey - his name is on the lease too and it was his band!)But it's a good thing I mentioned him, because as soon as I said the word 'husband', their whole demeanor changed - they visibly relaxed and became quite friendly! They explained they had to take my name and phone number for their records, but I wouldn't be issued a citation. They were still visually scanning the apartment and seemed quite surprised that all we had out were Coke and Sprite cans. (Good thing they broke up this wild party, where no alcohol was being served!)Then one cop turned to my 70-year-old father and started teasing him, asking him if it was his band that was performing. Then he said to my dad, "Oh, you're clearly the mastermind behind this!" Then they left out the back door and disappeared into the night -- their work here was done.We must live in a pretty safe town if one phoned-in complaint about noise at 8 pm on a Saturday night elicits three cops to come to the scene. (My husband was being questioned out front by another friendly officer of the law.) My only regret is I didn't think fast enough to offer these fine men in blue some of our cake. I'd say maybe next time, but it's safe to say my husband's band won't be playing in our apartment again.My friends were kidding me that I gave the cops MY name and number instead of my husband's, since I'll be conveniently disappearing into the wilderness for 6 months. I'm actually on the lam!We did wonder why they relaxed so much when I mentioned I was married, and all we could think of was initially they thought we were some rowdy college kids who are always playing loud music. Which is kind of funny, since we're all in our 30s at this point. (As my friend Marion put it, "We're not aging THAT well!") But hey, if having a husband got me out of getting a noise citation, I'll just add it to my long list of benefits of being married to Ground Control.