My Friend Mind's Post Today Reminded Me of a Story

My Dad hates to be late. Hates it. I remember as a child he'd stand by the door and bellow "If we mean to go, we must go now!!!" We heard this a lot when we were getting ready for church.

When I was a teenager, Dad was getting irritated with me for making us late for church. By then my brothers and sisters were all living out of home or away at college, so it was just me, Mom and Dad going to church that day. Dad and I had gotten into an argument because I was making us so late for church.

Dad handed me the keys, and I drove while he and Mom sat in the back. (I hated that they both sat in back, but they wanted to sit together. Wait, who was the teenager?) Just to be a smart ass, I drove exactly the speed limit the entire way. We had to pass through Longmeadow, Massachusetts on the way to church, which has a city-wide 25 MPH speed limit. Just about every street in Longmeadow has a limit of 25 MPH.

Dad sat in back, seething, while I idled the car at exactly 25 MPH through Longmeadow. To go 25 you barely have to touch the gas, so the car just coasted at 25 through the town.

"Go faster," said Dad, "You can go at least 40 on this road. We're going to be late."

"Dad! Are you asking me to speed and break the law?" I asked.

Dad flopped back into his chair, and I could hear his teeth grinding. I steered the car around a curve, and on the other end of the curve sat a police car. I was still driving at exactly 25 MPH, and at this point very smugly might I add.

"See?" I said, "If I was going 40 MPH like you suggested, we'd be pulled over right now. And that would take even longer."

In the rear view mirror I could see that vein pop out of Dad's temple. You know the one. It pops up just as his face is starting to redden out of frustration (Mom and Dad had 5 kids, this vein made an appearance often). He didn't say a word, just sat there, seething, teeth grinding and reddening oh so slightly.

And wouldn't you know we were still 15 minutes early to church?