Monday, October 15, 2007

buckle up

We were having a perfect day...on our way to Hillsville to stop by the Ranch. We had just left the DeBoe's so of course our hearts were full...then we saw the lights and pulled off. I looked at R and he looked at me...no idea why we got pulled over. I turned around and noticed..."oh, Hannah, you don't have your seat belt on..." she put it on. The police officer came up to the window and said "sir, do you know that you were going 51 in a 35?" R said, "no sir, we were talking and I didn't realize." He left and ran the registration/license stuff...and came back. Meanwhile C is in the back with tears streaming down her face. When he came back he told us that it is $7 a mile over on top of the basic penalty and that he was just going to give us a warning since we were so cooperative. Then he asked us if we had our seat belts on. Yes. He looked right AT me and said "what about the little ones?" "no, sir." He wrote us a ticket for not obeying the road signs. I would not want his job. I hate tickets. Teachable moment. I looked at C and said, "honey, I feel bad too. but you know, he is trying to keep us and those around us safe. We were not paying attention. It is important to pay attention, isn't it?" I told her that I could have lied and said, that "yes" we all had our seat belts on, because we did now...but it is always right to tell the truth. Moment of great impact. Pretty sure H will be a full time seat belt "wearer" from now on.

2 comments:

  1. A teachable momentyou used well!

    I still remember the time when you kids were little and we didn't have our funds to return to Bolivia. One trip, Jonathan said,
    "Daddy, go real fast so we get a ticket." We asked why? He asnwered so that we could get back to Bolivia!

    ReplyDelete
  2. ha ha...we've been stopped 6 times since we got to Mexico. :)...only paid 2 "tickets" (or gave the policeman some spending money). They like us here and don't have road signs- I think you're just supposed to "know" if it is one way, etc. :) We keep seeing one of the cops over again (He didn't end up giving us a ticket- He had just waved Tim through an intersection and then pulled him over for going through a red light!...but now he tries to avoid us and look away when we drive by :)).

    ReplyDelete