Have you ever unintentionally broken the law?

I think that most people have unintentionally broken some law and probably didn’t even know they did it. But if I’m talking about myself, a few years ago I was getting off the freeway to go across this intersection and get back on the freeway so I could avoid the traffic jam that is always there. So I got off the freeway, sat at the light at the intersection, and when the light turned green, drove across the intersection and onto the freeway on-ramp. Only, as I was driving down the on-ramp I noticed a bunch of cars pulled off to the side, and police officers waving people over. At first I thought something bad had happened and they were trying to keep people off the freeway, and I got waved over…….then I realized I had gotten waved over for some other reason because I saw police officers writing tickets. I was thinking WTF did I do??!! So the police officer asks me if I know what I did, and I smiled really big and I told him I honestly did not know. He laughed and told me it was because I drove across the intersection and back onto the freeway when there are clearly signs saying you can only turn left or right. I did argue with him nicely, and I told him that if those signs are there, they are not clear. And then I said: So I suppose you are going to actually write me a ticket? And the cop said that he had to write the ticket because his boss was right over there watching him, but that if I go to court or fight it online, he will ignore the ticket and it will be dismissed. Ok great.

The police officer wrote the ticket and I went on my merry way, but I did turned around and go back to that off ramp and take pictures…..and the signs were definitely not clear at all. In fact, I had never even seen them until that day, and I had to look for them, in addition, one of the signs had a straight arrow. And of course I turned right this time and di not go across the intersection. LOL.

I called my friend who is a police officer and I told him what happened, and asked him what I should say to fight it online. He told me that first of all that is the lamest ticket he has ever heard of, and this is what to say. So I submitted my photos and my description of what happened, and my ticket got dismissed. And……..the city did put up appropriate signage about a month later. But I do wonder how many people just paid that ticket?

If there was a biography about you, what would the title be?

If there were a biography written about me the title would be, “Addicted to Horses and Psychology”. It would be a story about how no matter how many times I tried to pursue other things, I always went back to riding and training horses, but also, becoming a therapist because I love talking to people and helping them figure out what they would like to do with their life, and what changes they would like to make.

What were your parents doing at your age?

At my age my parents were working all the time, just like they always have. At that point in their lives I always wondered why they were still together because they seemed to dislike each other. I had just moved out of their house into my first place, so they turned my room into an office, and my mother moved into one of the other bedrooms. When they weren’t working, they rarely spent time together, and never really spent much time together at any point after I moved out. My mother would hang out at one end of the house, and my father would hang out at the other end, if they were even home at all.

And when I would come over, my parents would pretend they were still sleeping in the same room, but I knew they weren’t. They were driving each other crazy and became unbearable to be around because my mom would criticize my dad and get annoyed that people were talking to him at family events. It was really hard to be around them.

My dad passed away suddenly almost 2 years ago and my mom pretty much acted like she didn’t care, and I had to plan the entire funeral service etc, by myself because my mom wanted no part of it. And my mom is still impossible to be around.

Fortunately my husband and I are definitely NOT like my parents at all. Thank god! My husband and I sometimes talk about my parents and how odd their relationship was. I once found an anniversary card where my mom had written something like: Well, we made it to 30 years. It hasn’t always been easy, but we’re figuring it out. Happy Anniversary! Here’s to many more more!

I just find it odd that she would write something like that when she clearly disliked my dad. And on that particular anniversary she berated my dad and bitched at him in front of all of us………just like she always did.

If you had the power to change one law, what would it be and why?

If I could change one law…..well, how do I even answer that because there are so many things I would want to change. If I have to pick one law, I would change the fact that if you steal $950 and below it’s basically a slap on the wrist. I’m sorry but if you’re going to smash and grab or shop lift, etc, you have a problem that needs to be addressed. So, the law about the amount of theft and how much time someone gets for it (virtually no time presently) is something I would want to change. I think that no bail, and serving at least one month in jail for stealing would be great. Possibly some people would think about it before they took something that didn’t belong to them. Maybe? And just for fun, I think that people who steal should get tazed at the time of their sentencing. LOL. And perhaps sending that person to classes of some kind to get them to change their direction in life would be nice. But of course not everyone wants help, so those that don’t want help would still go back to what they were doing, but possibly a few would change their ways.

Share what you know about the year you were born.

I just realized that I do not know much about what was happening the year that I was born. And no, I am not sharing which year I was born in. LOL. I don’t know about specific events in history. I do know that life was a lot easier the hear that I was born. People still did not always lock their doors, and there were still door to door salesmen (no women sales people yet) A lot of people smoked and Hugh Hefner was at the top of his game. People definitely had more common sense back then, and were kinder.

What cities do you want to visit?

I don’t think that there are any cities in the United States that I would like to visit because I have basically been to the places in the U.S. that I would like to see. I know that I would like to visit Catania in Sicily because that is where my grandmother is from. I still have relatives there and there is a family winery I would like to see.

I would also like to see Paris, France and various parts of Spain, maybe Barcelona.

Tell us one thing you hope people say about you.

What I hope that people say about me is simple: I hope that people say that I am honest and reliable……because I definitely am both of those things.

I also hope that people see me as easy going and open minded.