Hooray for the Police!

We went to a visitation tonight. That reminds me of something else, so I'm going to interrupt my story already....

Sarah was playing with a little gold bead the whole time we were in line. When we got up to the front of the line, she dropped it, and of course it rolled right under the casket. She started crawling under to get it right at the time when she was supposed to be saying her rehearsed line: "I'm sorry for your loss." Mike made her stand up and say her line, and then she went right back to focusing on her own loss. I ended up dragging her out from under the casket.

But back to my original story.... The line moved slowly, so when I left the visitation I only had five minutes to get to my harp teacher's house all the way across town, so I was speeding. Not just a little speeding, but a good 20 mph over the limit. I also hadn't taken the time to put on my seatbelt. Mike was taking the kids home in the van, and I was driving his car. My purse (with driver's license) was in the van. I was so focused on my rush to get there that I was only vaguely aware of the flashing lights in my rearview mirror. They followed me all the way down Jefferson Street before they finally registered in my consciousness and caused me to think, "What IS that annoying flashing?" As soon as I looked in the rearview mirror, I knew I was in major trouble. Speeding, no seatbelt, no license, and he had to chase me a long distance before I stopped.

There he was shining his flashlight at me and asking if he could see my license. I dumbly said, "No." He said, "You don't have a license, or you don't have it with you?" I wanted to say, "It's in my safe minivan, which I always drive very slowly when my kids are with me," but I didn't think he'd believe that I'm the one who ALWAYS sets my cruise control at 50 mph on the interstate, and the one time I break the law in four different ways, I get caught. So I just said I didn't have it with me. He took my name and date of birth and went to his car to look me up while I scrounged around for the insurance card he'd asked me to produce. To my absolute amazement, he showed mercy. Instead of writing me a whole slew of tickets, he told me to be more cautious and have a good night!

I got home in time to tell my kids a great bedtime story about God's mercy on us by not giving us the punishment we deserve, as reflected by a very kind police officer.