on my way to work this morning i was in a rush as usual (6:30 a.m. will forever be my nemesis). i zoomed through a yellow light (almost red light) and not five seconds later i saw flashing lights in my rear view mirror. great i thought, what would mr. charlesworth have to say about this? not good things I assure you.

it has been almost three years since my last ticket and i was inches away from having my monthly car insurance lowered. i needed another ticket like i need another hole in the head, just to clear up any confusion i didn’t need one of those either. i didn’t have any cool ticket stories, they were all for really mundane things like five miles over the speed limit, running a stop sign on an abandoned street in the middle of the night, that kind of stuff.

i pulled over to the side of the road, dug through my purse for a license, and rolled down my window to await my unforeseen fate. the policeman, as policeman usually do, asked “do you know why i pulled you over today?” “um… no?” i said. i mean i was pretty sure why, but isn’t there some sort of don’t admit your guilt rule that applies to these situations? he continued to tell me that the light was red when i reached the intersection and asked if i had seen that the light was red. i replied that i thought the light was yellow which was the truth as the light probably turned red when i was under it and out of sight. he then asked the question again “you thought it was yellow?”. “yes” i thought that was what i just said anyway, “i thought it was yellow.”

i could see where this was going, many more unnecessary questions until i wind up with a ticket and arriving late for work. it was my own fault but in the moment you just can’t help but be bothered. as he was lecturing me, i’m pretty sure he thought i was very young as he kept mentioning my parents, i suddenly noticed a change in his voice and the direction of his lecture started to shift, like he suddenly decided to let me go and ride free. i was shocked, this never happened to me. i have tried every trick in the book apart from bursting into complete hysterics to try and avoid receiving a ticket. – and then that was it. he told me to have a nice day and sent me on my way. i couldn’t believe i was leaving empty handed, ticketless and free to go. i suddenly had an overwhelming sensation of gratitude and love for that man, this sounds a bit dramatic but i was suddenly filled with a warm fuzzy filling. besides the fact that i had avoided the hassles of all a ticket includes, i had managed to be pulled over and not receive that disliked little piece of paper. it was a first, and i was more than happy to experience this first. for some reason this cop had decided to let me off the hook, what on earth made him change his mind i don’t know, but whatever the reason, i was extremely grateful.

i think sometimes i forget the little things in life i have to be grateful for and sometimes i may not even know i have something to be thankful about until after situations like this. it’s little things like this in my day to day life that are humbling for me and i’m thankful for them.