Today We Add More Virginia License Plates

In my entire driving life, I've lived in only two states and the District of Columbia.  For all I know both Montana and Arkansas may offer license plate options that number in the thousands.  

However, because I currently live in Virginia, where we have over 200 license plate designs, and because I am indecisive by nature, I am beginning to be concerned that my license plate is insufficiently representative of my identity.

There is a small part of my soul which is secretly grateful that the .  It is not that I do not support the endeavor.  After all, it is true that Friends of Coal (who knew?) and endorsers of Tobacco Heritage are already able to proclaim their causes while we members cannot.  

However, if the Reston! license plate (exclamation point at no additional cost) were added to my choices, then I would almost certainly have to reassess my pressed-metal choices.  How do people who love both Jimmy Buffett and natural bridges ever come to a decision?

My options already include a license plate in support of my college alma mater, my favorite hockey team, several favorite charities, a few kind of cool patterns and, of course, lighthouses.  Just looking through the choices makes me want to return my current plates to the DMV immediately.

What in the world was I thinking when I opted for the pattern known only as Scenic Autumn?  It is out of fashion for three quarters of every year and it says nothing about my support for bowling, bicycles, or butterflies.  The rest of the Commonwealth is adorning their bumpers with allegiances and all I've got is leaves!

In fact, the struggle to get our own community a license plate notwithstanding, maybe I had better look into securing options beyond the ones already available to me.

The two most recently approved plates do not speak to me personally.  "Don't Tread on Me" is too evocative of snakes and "In God We Trust" just reminds me of all the money I don't have.  However, the fact that new patterns are still emerging is encouraging to me.

Perhaps, I could design a plate.  There's so much about Virginia that has yet to be deemed plate-worthy.  Did you know that our state beverage is milk?  Our state dance is square?  That we have a state fossil but not a state song?  

I really enjoy Virginia history and appreciate the many proud nicknames we bear, but I'm just not sure if I'll get any support for getting "Mother of Presidents" on a plate.  It is both evocative of a curse and the most supreme kind of bragging in which a mom could possibly indulge.

But there are other drivers out there who have made far bolder choices than I.  There is a unique license plate which affiliates with nobody and nothing.

How can I become one of those elite Virginians with the confidence to make the very bold choice to eschew the public displays and accept a plain white plate with the name of our state in bright blue capital letters?  When will I have the courage to accept the only design which is free?