Hawaii

Mason and I were driving down Summit Avenue to our usual coffee shop, Cafe Amore, and I was turning on to Milton when I spotted a rainbow on a license plate in front of me. "No way!" I shouted, "Mason, I think I just saw Hawaii!" Mason, who was, as usual strapped into his booster seat, became frantic. "I can't see it, ima! I can't see it!" Traffic was piling up behind me and I had to make my turn. I noticed the Hawaii car was turning in the other direction on the same street. "We'll chase him!" I told Mason. Of course, we were completely stymied by traffic. The parking lot I turned into is one way, and a very busy day care is right in the middle of it. A gigantic Honda SUV blocked us for several minutes. Mason burst into tears. I kept trying to tell him that we'd see the license plate again, after all, a Hawaii plate was in Minnesota (St. Paul, no less!) Even if we couldn't catch it today, we'd see it again soon.

We drove down Milton for several blocks, but we missed it. Mason cried and cried. We decided to go get our usual coffee and then resume "the hunt." Everyone at Amore sympathized with our dilemma, but most of them remarked, "Wow, Hawaii? Here?" When we got our drink and got buckled back in, I had an idea. No one turns on Milton, I said, except if they're going to William Mitchell College of Law. I decided we should check and see if there was a parking lot we missed. We drove into a very narrow parking lot at the back of the main building... and there it was. I stopped our car, got Mason out of his seat, and we walked right up to the license plate and TOUCHED IT.

Amazing.

Now Mason just needs to conjure West Virginia.