A Most Embarrassing Moment

I’ll never forget the time I received my first traffic ticket. It happened on Christmas Eve at the busiest time of day. My mother, sister, and aunt were riding in the car with me, and we were on our way to a shopping mall. My mother was rushing me because she was afraid we wouldn’t reach the department store before it closed, and my grandmother needed a gift for Christmas. I wondered how I was going to manage all of this. To add to my problems, the traffic was terrible; cars of all shapes and sizes seemed to be intentionally blocking my progress. I kept thinking to myself, “This car has to go faster,” while I pushed the accelerator toward the floor. I watched the speedometer zip to fifty-five miles per hour in a forty-five mile zone. “So what,” I thought. “I’m almost at the mall.” Little did I know, however, that the police were waiting just around the corner for me. Their radar device had caught me speeding; my brief career as a race car driver was at an end.
Embarrassed and angry at myself, I sat fuming in the police car for forty minutes as an officer reviewed my car and registration information. When he went to give me the ticket I opened my wallet to place my license in the holder and he saw an item that he recognized. He asked me if I knew several individuals as well as asked couple of questions concerning the item and then he thanked me for my answers and stated he would be right back. Upon returning to my car he tore my ticket up and let me go with a warning. Before walking away he stated that he was a member of Omega Psi Phi and that the person he asked me about was one of his closest friends and the vouched for me. Needless to say, that the item he recognized was my membership card for my sorority. So I hold on to the pale blue ticket because it will forever hold a spot in my