Last week was a very, very hard week. I turned 40, continue dealing with cancer stuff (radiation, more biopsies, feeling awful and sick!) and to add to it the death of my father-in-law. That meant that my husband spent the week at his mother's (rightly so) but I truly missed my best friend and lover. It was hard going into surgery by myself, starting radiation and dealing with all the emotional stuff of "cancer" without him, but I knew he needed to be with his mom. I would be here with all my emotional stuff next week, but his mom needed him then. He needed to be there. He needed the closure that comes from preparing a funeral for a father. I know, I did it the year before.
(By the way--THE BLANDING FAMILY IS DONE WITH FUNERALS!!! DO YOU HEAR ME! No one else can die for a long time! We are worn out! Three for the last three summers is just too many!)
But to add to my awful week the police enter the picture. Now I know they serve us, but come on! I'm getting tired of the lights!
1. On the way to our family reunion, Office "Fife" of Raymond, WA, pulls us over for going just a tad over the limit. There is a tiny stretch of road (less than five miles) that the limit goes from 30 to 40 to 30 then to 50. Can you say speed trap? Of course you get TWO signs placed 20 yards apart announcing the new limit. How dare you might look elsewhere than the signage as you drive through Raymond, WA.
2. We have had several incidents in our neighborhood where the cops were needed in the last few weeks. The worse was a middle of the night break-in of a back door neighbor. They are good friends with our family (children play together, adults play together, we go to church together, etc.) and in the middle of the night, while the family was asleep, someone broke into their home but cutting the screen window and took electronic equipment. Shudder to think....
3. On the day of my father-in-law's funeral I drove from Ridgefield to Redmond, pretty late in the evening. Of course I used cruise control to keep my speed pegged about 3 mph over the limit. The limit constantly changes between Portland and Seattle because of construction. One minute it is 70 and then it is 60. (Ponder on this: Why is it that the trucks' limit is 60 while we are 70 and then when we have to drop to 60 they don't go to 50?) Talk about silly! Of course I'm in a lot of pain and I would love to be home in bed, but I resist the urge to go too fast. Now the cars and trucks around me are flying past me and ne'er a state police in sight. They are out, I see them on the other side of the freeway, but not going north. Then I pull into our town and hit the residential roads. Avondale the road that the freeway turns into is a 40 mph road. That is so hard to do when you have just spent the last 3 hours doing 70 that I use my cruise control and peg it right at 40. Kray notices a police behind me and I check my speed. Right on 40! Then LIGHTS! I can't believe what in the world I had done in the two blocks since he started following me. Of course his lights are in my eyes so I can't even see him. Talk about the worst policy in the world. How am I supposed to feel safe when I can't even see the officer who is pulling me over? I ask him what I did wrong. "Your licence plate light is out." I'm more than mad! I'm livid, but I bite my tongue, give him the documentation he needs, break down in tears (it has been an awful day) and want to just go home.
Ok, today I took my van in to get the oil changed and have the burnt out light fixed so I don't have another encounter with a police. My light works JUST FINE! It isn't burnt out at all. "I want you to be safe ma'am." A working licence plate light will make me safe?
I want to scream!
I know they preform a great service, but why the heck are they pulling people over when there are jerks walking around my neighborhood
breaking
into homes while people are
sleeping
and he wants me to be safe by changing my "burnt out"
light bulb
. and
it wasn't even burnt out!
I asked them to change the bulb and they told me, "It is working fine, Mrs. Blanding."
Thank you so much for making Redmond a safe place! People will sleep better because the Blanding have replaced their "burnt out" light bulb. Tell that to my friends who were violated in their home.