The other morning I was driving to an appointment. Right before leaving, I had been working on a project, writing down thoughts for it. As I drove to the appointment, my mind was still on the project and additional ideas were coming to me. Since I didn’t want to lose these couple ideas, I grabbed a notepad and pen I keep in the car and quickly jotted down some notes – as I was driving. They were short notes, so it really wasn’t terribly unsafe.
Up ahead I saw cars pulling over and a couple of police officers in the middle of the road waving cars over. One pointed to me and waved me over. My first thought was that there was something “going down” up there and they didn’t want cars to continue into a crime scene or something. As I rolled down my window and was ready to ask “Is something going on up there?”, he asked if I was aware of the speed I had been driving (and was holding one of those radar things). What?? He kept asking me things, like could he have my driver’s license and registration, and where was I going, and did I live around there. I answered them all, but it felt like I was talking as if I was in a state of shock. I guess I really was shocked – I had no idea I was speeding. (It didn’t help that they were nabbing people as soon as it turned into a 25 mph school zone.)
He returned with my traffic ticket and said that I’d get something in the mail explaining my options,”you can go to traffic court, or…well, you know the drill” to which I answered, “Actually, I don’t. This is my first ticket. 53 years old and this is my first ticket. I guess I had to get one some time.” He replied, “Ah man, I feel bad that I have to be the one to give you your first ticket after all this time.”
I made it to my appointment just in time. And on my drive home, I thought about the whole ticket thing, yet something was “niggling” at me. I wondered if there was something in this that I was to learn…well yes, “don’t speed” would be the first thing 
But what also came to me was that I have been quite busy lately and multitasking a bit. Multitasking can be great, but not if it’s taken too far. We also need to spend some of our time being “mindful”. Being present in the moment.
We really do miss out on a lot of life if our thoughts are always in the past or in the future, or on just something else. Right now is the only time we will really have this moment to experience. This was a good reminder for me…albeit an expensive reminder! But I thank Spirit anyway.
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