Near miss speeding ticket

The swishing of my RN badge across my galaxy blue scrub top, annoyed me as I bent down, frantically rummaging through the glove box.  Those blue flashing lights amidst the pitch black 7:58pm sky, paired with thoughts of a huge speeding ticket - the month before Christmas - put a damper on my mood.  To top it off, the most recent insurance card I can weasel out of the crap filled glove box is from February 2012.  Perfect.  I sigh, and reluctantly hand it over with a meager...State Farm withdrew $118 from my account on Friday, I promise I really do have car insurance despite my almost two year outdated card, my gmail even told me so.  The man in blue laughs.

I'm glad someone was entertained by it.

The badge still swishing as I try to shove crap back into the glovebox.  I'm classy.

"Do you know why I pulled you over"

Perhaps the most irritating question to be asked by a guy in blue, holding his flashlight at that one angle that half blinds the "criminal" in the car of question.

So I reply...

Because I was going 62 in a 55mph zone.  I just finished running around like crazy for 12 hours taking care of sick patients, and this $10 pizza is the first thing that is going to go in my belly all day today.   I don't cope well when hungry.  I have a 7 year old at home who will want me to wake him up for school at 6:30am, but I have plans to study for an exam and finish up homework still tonight which probably means that I'll be up until 1:00am or so.  I'm sure the house is a wreck as my husband has been home for the past two days with our three kids solo, so there will be dishes, and laundry, and Lord knows what else to deal with when I get home...and before doing any of that, I first have to take a hot shower to wash off any of the infectious yuck off of me that I picked up while taking care of sick patients at the hospital today.  And that...well, all of that is my life, and exactly why I was speeding.  Of note, we are about 3 minutes from my neighborhood.  

And then I take a huge breath because that was all one, huge, long, run-on sentence.  My heart rate increases, in hopes he will take pity on my tiresome, stinky self...and just let me get the heck home.

He replies back with "my wife is a nurse, and the badge alone was your saving grace."  

Thank you annoying, swishy RN badge!

As he hands me my license, registration, and expired insurance cards back -

"I wouldn't want to be you.  Make sure and get your insurance card up to date.  And, hey, if that isn't your real life, you are one hell of a story teller."

License, registration and expired insurance cards back in hand.  Ticketless.

So my pizza might have gotten a bit more cold, but my smile got a bit wider.

Both of us in blue, such different jobs.

So glad I'm the one with the annoying, swishy RN badge, and that he was the one who extended grace to a speeding, exhausted, RN, mama, wife, and grad student.