When I was driving home from work on Wednesday and glanced at my rearview mirror to see the flashing lights of a police car indicating that the cop wanted me to pull over, you can image that “thank you” were not the words that flashed through my mind. However by Friday, while I still wasn’t cheering that rolling through a stop sign in Novato was going to cost me about $300, I had come to the realization that the cop had done me a big favor.

You see, when the officer walked back to my car with the registration, insurance and my license, he asked me how long ago I had moved from Petaluma. I stammered that it had been three years ago. “Did you know your license has expired?” he asked.

WHAT?! How is that possible? That’s the kind of thing that happens to people without teeth and open containers of beer who get pulled over on “Cops” – not someone like me who compulsively puts the due date of every bill and renewal notice in RED (all caps) on my Google calendar with pop up emails and text messages as reminders.

But yes, I had somehow overlooked changing the address on my license. And now I was a scofflaw, commuting two hours every day with an expired license in my purse. Seeing the horrified look on my face, the officer took mercy on me and cited me only for the rolling stop. He admonished me to get the renewal taken care of quickly and he parted with the ominous words that “the Highway Patrol might not go so easy on me.” Okay, I’m really scared now.

The question for me the next day, was how quickly could I make an emergency trip to the DMV. I was able to fit it around a business appointment. I know people love to hate the DMV but I have found them to be incredibly efficient in moving the snaking cross section of humanity clutching their little numbers…”now serving G128”…through the system.

Renewing my license only cost me an hour of my day, $33 and a bottle of hand-sanitizer. That guy I sat down next to was coughing like he had Ebola. I was disappointed however, that I had to get a new photo taken and update my stats. On my expired license I was five years younger, two inches taller and 10 pounds lighter.

But when I think about what could have happened in the future if pulled out an expired license, the inconvenience and cost of the ticket doesn’t seem nearly that bad. What if I was waiting in line to board a flight, and the TSA agent checks my ID and it’s expired? That would be really ugly. Or if I had a fender bender and the CHP officer discovers that I’ve been driving a year on an expired license? I shudder to think what the fine for that would be.

It’s all a good reminder to keep perspective: Be grateful for what you have. Things could be worse.