Heaven Smiled

I had a doctor's appointment and had allowed plenty of time so I wasn't in any hurry. My mind was on overload with the Mama events of the last month but I was also trying to form my argument to the rheumatologist why there has to be a way to manage the hands so I can hold a golf club. Although the 18th hole is presently under water from all the rain, the blooming daffodils and camelias are a big hint that Spring is here. What I'm trying to say is that as I navigated the trusty Jeep over the hilly road I was thinking golf grips and getting a grip on the "bad stuff" when I came up on a small white car just creeping along.

 Obviously I slowed down. Then, to my surprise, I noticed these flashing red and blue lights in my rear view mirror. Thinking the cop was on his way to a real emergency I pulled over only to hear this LOUDSPEAKER telling me not to pull over there but to go to the next street and pull over there. WHAT? MOI? What could possibly be wrong? A tail light out on the Jeep?

Imagine my surprise when the cop came up and asked me if I knew how fast I was going! Well of course I didn't know how fast I was going and I told him I didn't have a clue, only that I'd had to slow down for that little white car. He told me he'd clocked me at 50 mph in a 35 mile zone! I was really surprised but told him I just hadn't been thinking about how fast I was going. He then wanted to know if I had an excuse for speeding and, out of curiosity, I asked him if my excuse would make any difference. He admitted it wouldn't and I said, "Well, I do have a doctor's appointment but I have plenty of time--I just wasn't paying any attention." That kind of surprised him and he asked for my license which I had. THEN he asked for some other things and I was wracking my brain to try and remember what and where those other papers might be. He told me to look in the glove compartment and all I saw was my cool khaki Jeep manual so I handed that to him. He wasn't impressed and said he thought he saw some papers still in the box. He was right! Oh thank you, Mr. T. Those were the right papers and I guess everything was okay because he simply handed them back to me.

Then he asked an odd question--"Have you had any moving violations in the last 18 months?" I knew if I told him the truth he'd think I was lying but I went for it:  "Officer, I've never had a ticket in my whole life."

He actually didn't seem that surprised--did he already know that? Had I passed a test? In any event, he said, "Well, I'm not going to be the one who gives you your first ticket and break that record." You mean I wasn't going to get a ticket??? I held my breath and said THANK YOU. He really was a very nice man and he cautioned me about speeding. I thanked him again and said I had always hoped if I ever got a ticket for something it would be for driving the Jeep in a terribly dangerous fashion while tearing up a part of the Mojave Desert--you know, a ticket one could brag about to all one's friends. He then began to laugh and agreed--that was the best kind of ticket to get.

So I can now add being pulled over for speeding to my list of Life Experiences. It must be a turn in my streak of bad luck--even the doctor agreed to handwrapping and giving golf a try when the rain lets up.