Census Humor

I come from a long line of rule-followers. I missed that gene pool somehow. I am no criminal but I am more the type that will interpret the rules. Now my mother, Jane, is a serious rule-follower and will lend her own humor to this blog without even trying. See my brother John and I were talking about the Census. John is mentally ill and lives with three other men in a supervised living situation. I told my mother that John told me he got his Census and mailed it in like the responsible citizen that he is. Her response? "Well how could he mail it in already? It asks how many people will be living there on April 1st and it's not April 1st yet? I filled it out and am waiting." Now THAT is a rule-follower. She doesn't want to lie and if she has a catastrophe that renders her in hospital care it specifically states that you should not be listed so she will wait. And I bet you she will not leave that to her perfectly capable mailperson to pick up. She will drive to the office with the sweetest postal staff north of the Mason-Dixon line and trust them to take it from there. For me a Census only reminds me of the Nativity Story and how Mary had to travel all that distance very pregnant and in discomfort all for the sake of numbers and taxes. Myself, I am not a rule-follower and am proud of it. I will mail my Census but I cannot take it quite as seriously as the rest of my family.