She’s got a ticket to ride
— for life, if she learns the lesson.
So the baby got a speeding ticket. Not the baby baby, but the 20 year-old baby (all the girls in our house were “Baby” to the man of the house and I see no reason to change things now).
She called me on the phone — I was on deadline, naturally — and sobbed out her story, one decibel below hysterical.
“I was only going seven miles over the speed limit (um, the ticket reports that number slightly differently) and it happened right by the school and people saw me pulled over!”
Please scre-e-e-ech that out while reading, so you can enjoy the full effect.
I played the Good Mom part perfectly, I don’t mind telling you. “This is not the end of the world. Drive the speed limit and this won’t ever happen again.”
But, of course, this is the child that cheated on a test in fourth grade and I don’t think she’s given up the guilt over that. All that summer after school got out, she had regular breakdowns over the error of her ways. Honestly, I think we had to go to counseling for that one.
Today she is learning how all this works — you go to District Court, you present a letter to the judge in hopes of getting the ticket reduced, you present the non-expired edition of the insurance card and you grovel to those clerks, who happen to have a great sense of humor about these things. (“How does Sheila know that?” Hmm..)
It’s a wonderful life lesson. It’s also a pretty cheap way to save a life. If my daughter hates this whole experience enough, she will remember it for a very long time. And the longer she drives the speed limit, the better her chances of not being in an accident…of not hurting herself or others.
It probably means she can’t pay back the $50 she owes me this month, but I can live with that.
Thanks to whatever officer stopped her and didn’t let my baby’s mournful brown eyes or instant tears sway a decision to issue a ticket. She deserved it, just like she deserves to grow into the amazing adult she is showing the potential to become.
To stay alive for what comes next. At our house, we like alive.
If you enjoyed this post, please consider to leave a comment or subscribe to the feed and get future articles delivered to your feed reader.
