What Does That Mean?

I've been a fan of so-called "vanity plates" ever since I can remember. I have always loved words and my favorite past time is doing the word jumbles in the newspaper.

I love to try to figure out people's license plates as I go down the road. If I can't figure it out pretty quickly, I get mad because what good is a vanity plate if no one can figure it out? If you have something to say, to my mind, you can be clever about it but if no one can figure it out what good is it? They'll never know what you're trying to say!

I like having a vanity plate that has a positive saying. It gives me a sense of calm when I see the plate and it keeps me from acting like an idiot on the road. I mean how would it look for a person to give you the finger while driving a car with a license plate that says "PEACE"? In addition, I always know my license plate when filling out any paperwork that asks you for your license plate number.

My first vanity plate was "GITNBTR". I had just passed 40 years of age and life was, indeed, getting better. I thought that plate was pretty easy to figure out until a couple of teenagers asked me one day "Miss, does your license plate mean getting butter?" Made me wonder what they were teaching in school.

The next plate I got was a little more challenging. I wanted my plate to say "peace" but all of the different variations were already taken. I ended up with two choices: "PEESE" and "VSIGN". The first one was pretty easy because it sounded like peace but the second one, I thought was pretty creative. You had to figure out that the "VSIGN" stood for the peace sign that you make with your 2 fingers. I went for the second one. I can't tell you how excited I would be when someone would cut in front of me, then flash the peace sign. They got it.

When I moved to North Carolina, I found that this state gives you a little more liberty with vanity plates. I had 8 letters to play with. I thought long and hard about what my plate would say. I wanted it to portray where I am in life. I chose "ONAJERNY". I felt that was a fair depiction of my life. I definitely was on a journey from California to North Carolina and, even more importantly, I'm on a journey finding out who I am.

Here are a few vanity plates I think are interesting:

1. NVERLA8 (California)
2. NA HE DNT (Ohio)
3. L8ASUSL (Vermont)
4. F-IT (Oklahoma)
5. SSABMUD (California) Somehow got by the DMV
6. LOL WTF (Virginia) Somehow got by the DMV
7. TI EVOM (California)
8. FSTR N U (California)
9. KIDINME (Michigan)
10. GLBL WMR (Nebraska)

Not that you probably need it, but here's some help on the plates above:
1. Never Late, 2. No He Didn't, 3. Late As Usual, 4. You got that one, 5. Dumb Ass (backwards) 6. You got that one, 7. Move It (backwards), 8. Faster Than You, 9. Kid In Me, 10. Global Warmer (the vehicle was a camper) Check out www.coopl8z.com for more

For me? I'm sticking with the plate I have. After all, life's a journey, not a destination.