Driver's license and registration, please

The friendly officer of the law didn't even have a chance to say those words on Sunday morning when he pulled my car over within a half mile of church. I will say it now: it's hard to emulate the feeling of your heart slamming into your stomach when you see those flashing lights trailing your car.

I knew those lights were meant for me. In fact, I watched Mr. Policeman pass me going the opposite direction, do a U-turn as soon as he was clear of my car, and fire up his lights in a friendly "get the heck over to the side of the road" gesture.

Too bad I didn't see him coming sooner. It was 7:35 in the morning and I was barely clinging to less than four hours of sleep. I wish I could say that I was up all night partying (so there would be at least one element of "fun" to this story); instead I was up working until 2:00 ish as I continue to prepare for my company's conference next week.

In my defense, I am usually a much more attentive driver. I generally follow the speed limit within 5-7 mph, and I am an emphatic user of my turn signal. But Sunday, I was too tired to do much but keep my hands on the wheel and my car between the lines.

Foolishly I let the car in front of my dictate the speed of the morning...and that obviously didn't pay off. Of course in the great mystery of traffic karma, the car in FRONT of me wasn't picked up.

So Mr. Policeman pulls me over and tells me as I hand him my pertinent info that he clocked me going 59 one way, then when he turned around he "zeroed me in" at 49... in a 35. Ouch. I did vaguely recall seeing a 35 mph sign, but there's LOTS of speed signs in the 3-mile stretch leading up to my church. And they flip flop back and forth incessantly. Apparently I flipped when I should have flopped.

Thoroughly bummed out with my first speeding ticket EVER, I drove the 10 seconds to church and skulked into the sanctuary. I was, perhaps, the worst church-goer in history that morning—both seething at my misfortune and stewing in stress about being up so early, doing anything but working, and being more exhausted than I cared to admit.

The sermon that day was appropriately focused on worry & anxiety and taking on too much. How ironic! It didn't sink in. I spent those 20 minutes making a lengthy to-do list as Pastor Doug was explaining the advantages to simplifying one's schedule. I wanted to hop on board the train he was driving, but I just couldn't get past the enormous flashing barrier arms of "DEADLINE!!! DEADLINE!!!"

I'm not sure I ever felt so blue leaving church—a place that usually lifts me up from whatever dark place I'm in and relieves whatever stress that's suffocating me. Not that day. It was all I could to keep from crying as I explained to David that I likely racked up a $100+ ticket at a time when our cash flow is heading down river to $3.50 gas and $4 milk.

What a crummy day. Wednesday I'll get to call Gahanna's city administrators to find out the damage on the ticket... something to look forward to in this bright and sunny week. Boy howdy, I can't WAIT for Sept. 22 to arrive—14 days and counting!