Last night was a really rough night for me. My oldest daughter called me crying that their landlord had just taped an eviction notice onto their apartment door, due to them being so behind in their rent. Her husband is working, but it is only part time and she hasn’t been able to find work in over 6 months, so their finances are a total mess right now.

If they get kicked out of their apartment they will have no where to live and I really don’t want them moving back in here with us. I have my hands full enough as it is without having to deal with two more people in the house that I would be responsible for all that they do and what they don’t do. As soon as I calmed my daughter down I got into the car and headed their way with my check book and credit card in hand. I got it all straightened out, got them back on track, had a short visit with them and turned heal to head home again.

I must have had my head in the clouds or in deep thought because I was not paying attention to the speed limit and found myself being red lighted by our local police, so I pulled over as soon as I could find a safe place to do so. The officer slowly approached my vehicle with his flashlight in hand that he shined right into my eyes and demanded my driver’s license, registration and proof of insurance, which I promptly retrieved from the glove box. He told me that he would be right back, in the meantime he had called for back up and another police car pulled up as well, which I thought was strange since this was only a stupid speeding ticket.

Being nervous about being pulled over prompted me to grab a cigarette, get it lit and stepped outside of my car, since I had my youngest kid in the car with me and I don’t smoke around any of the kids. The one officer yelled at me to get back into the car. I told he that I wanted a smoke, he told me to smoke in my vehicle, in which case I told him that I wouldn’t because I don’t smoke around my kids so he told me not to smoke at all. That is when I started feeling that this was turning into a police harassment case. I proceeded to inform the officer that as far as I knew we were still in America and that it wasn’t against any law to smoke in the location that I was currently finding myself in. That really upset the officer so he made me put my hands on the hood of his car, while he searched me and asked me one hundred and one questions about my driving record, where I was going, had I been in trouble before, you know questions like that. I was getting a bit irritated at this whole procedure that I’m quite sure was police harassment and I just wanted to go home and put the whole day behind me once and for all.

It had all ready cost me $700 for their rent, $20 for gas to get there and back, food for me and the kid and now a speeding ticket from two police officers that really treated me as a common criminal. Even though I was very nice, I cooperated with them, used my manners, had all of my required paperwork, the whole kit and caboodle, this particular officer seemed to think that this was proper procedure and made me feel as if I was a victim of police harassment and I was really upset about the whole thing and embarrassed that it was all taking place in front of my youngest that had come along with me to keep me company.

The ticket cost me $200 and my insurance went up $20 a month but I managed to keep my oldest from being tossed out on her ear. It really left a bad taste in my mouth, one that I won’t forget any time soon. I have had a clean driving record for well over a decade and this really messes it all up, all because I was helping my kid out, arg……..

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