Grade schools and Policemen

I drove through the old neighborhood today. Not just the home where I grew up. I drove by the hospital where I was born and the grade school I attended. (The baby gets very tired of the same conversation every time I drive by this school. I say, "That's where I went to grade school." He says, "I know." And then he rolls his eyes. Wonder where he got that?

My golden girls and lots of my friends went to this grade school. Our generation experienced busing in this time. A big adventure was when our parents would allow us to walk home from school. A 20-minute walk could take hours; we found lots of detours. We felt safe.

Today, we all know about school shootings and other atrocious things. A posting on the Internet can incite a riot or a beating. Somehow, doing the duck and cover thing under the desk in preparation for nuclear war seems innocent and quaint.

I slowed down in the school zone so I had lots of time to pay attention. Two police cars out front and one in the side parking lot. Memory lane and a little sadness set in. The only time we saw a police officer at the school in my youth was when he came to explain Officer Friendly.

Officer Unfriendly

Last week, the husband and I barely stopped to breathe. Decisions, notifications, endless phone calls, funeral arrangements, travel arrangements, etc.

I was trained as a journalist and my current writing work always involves deadlines. I understand deadlines and in fact, I work a little faster and a little better with my feet held to the fire.

We wanted the Belle's obit to appear in several papers. The husband instructed me to get it to the funeral home (with the photo) by noon -- so I had 20 minutes.

An aside -- I had just finished editing it for the umpteenth time and I was very emotional. The husband and I had gone through photos before he left for work and I was weepy with memories. But I threw on some clothes and headed off with tears in my eyes.

I was speeding (not much) through a school zone. This is not the kind of school zone where children walk to school. This is a gated community school -- the kind where your biggest risk is a 16-year old child runs into you with his Jaguar. But, it is a school zone.

I got pulled over for speeding. I was crying uncontrollably. I had the obit and the photo sitting on my passenger seat. I gave Officer Unfriendly my driver's licence and attempted to explain the circumstances.

Officer Unfriendly gave me a speeding ticket.

Officer Friendly

When I was in grade school there was a program called Officer Friendly through the police department. An officer or two came into the classroom and gave us safety tips. In those days, a lot of children walked to school so he talked about crossing at the corner, not talking to strangers, etc. They were very careful not to scare us. One of the tips was to never approach a strange car and never accept candy. They drilled it into us that we were never, ever to get in a car with anyone we didn't know.

I was a crossing guard in 5th or 6th grade. A man offered me candy and offered to drive me to school -- 1 block away. I ran and as he drove away, I wrote his license plate number on my arm. The nice policemen came and honored me with a little certificate a few days later.

The other day I was driving to the lake. Just me and the dog cruising along... Apparently, we were cruising a little too fast because we were pulled over. The officer had so much fun petting and chatting with the dog that he decided a ticket wasn't necessary.

I'm grateful to my big, black dog for the diversion. I'm also grateful to Officer Friendly.