By now, it's safe to say that I've done a number of stupid things in my life. Regrettably and admittedly, some have been adverse to the law (okay, we're talking minor traffic violations...nothing major). But, nevertheless, I've been wrong.
Unfortunately, I haven't learned. Tonight, on our way home from handing Sebastian off to Mom in Dallas, I drove into our neighborhood like any other night. It was just getting dark and no one was behind us or on-coming. At the last stop sign near our house, I stopped, but apparently failed to signal my usual right turn. I didn't realize the mistake. Upon turning, we noticed a cop pulling over to the opposite curb facing us on the next block. We saw him turn his lights off and even discussed the fact that he was setting up a trap for some unsuspecting game. As usual, I made the right turn onto our street to head home. No other car was in sight, except the officer in his parked car. After I had turned completely and headed down our street, (our house is only like the fourth one down) I noticed the nice young cop come up behind me. He followed us until I signaled the turn into our driveway... You know what happened next? Yep! That guy proceeded to turn on his flashing red and blues and pull in behind us. Angry and embarrassed that he had the nerve to flash his lights in my drive way, I immediately got an attitude. I was sure I'd done nothing wrong. After all, I was just on my own block. We had even opened our garage door already for Pete's sake!
Nervous and a bit upset, Patrick and I both opened our car doors. You would have thought we were wanted criminals carrying weapons and drugs. Cop began shining his light in my face and demanded we get back in the vehicle and shut the doors. Honestly, I had no idea what was going on. I was just so ticked-off and scared at the same time. We obliged him and got back in. He told me to roll the window down, and I did. Neighbors literally began coming out of their houses to see what was going on. And I guess that's when I lost it. Cop nicely told me that I had been pulled over for failing to signal my intent to turn. WHAT? You've got to be kidding me... This guy's got to get a life. Pulling me over in my own driveway for doing something that put no one in danger. I was livid. There's a newspaper reporter living across the street for goodness sake.
He took my license and insurance and went to his car. He was there for what seemed an eternity. During that eternity, I was pleading with Patrick about the injustice of it all. Seriously, I know there are laws, but come on!!!! Give me a break! I'm sure there was some robbery going on that he could have been tending to. But for goodness sake, it's my own front yard. TURN YOUR LIGHTS OFF!!!! You're telling the whole neighborhood to come out and watch!!!
After moaning, groaning, and griping of innocence and injustice to my husband, the little man (who could not have been more than 22 years old) came shining his light in my face again. You see, when we moved to this new place, we failed to get new licenses. That gets me into another rant altogether, so I'll just say that we had to convince the man that we now lived at this location and had not gotten the card changed. It was correct on our insurance and registration, just not on our license. You'd have thought we'd just murdered someone. After convincing him of our residence and profuse error in not getting a new license, he wrote me a WARNING for failing to signal intent of a right turn. I think I would have found a lawyer if it had been a real ticket.
You know, I've been pulled over for speeding I think three or four times in my life, but that's it. I understand that there are laws for our safety. But, come on!!! Turning my blinker on when there is no one around. You've got to be kidding me.
...
I've had a few hours to think about it, and Patrick has helped me come to a conclusion and admission. If I had been pulled over for not signaling anywhere else but my own driveway, I'd probably not even be writing this post. But, because I was so embarrassed to be seen with flashing cop lights in my yard, I ranted and raved with anger and hatred. Instead of taking my lumps of correction and having a gentle spirit, I chose to let foolish PRIDE control my responses. Wow, there's that horrible word. You know, if cops gave tickets for letting foolish pride show, I think the world might be a better place to live. Let's just say, I'd be in attitude court way too often! Fortunately, I have the Holy Spirit to handle the attitude correction, not the men in blue!
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