mulberryshoots

Have you ever had something that you thought was bad happen to you, and it turned out to be something really good instead?

The other day, I was preoccupied, driving on a country lane while measuring distances to put onto directions for a friend who would be visiting soon. I passed a police car on the side of the road but thought little about it until he pulled me over about a mile past where he had been sitting. Turns out I was going over the 30 mile an hour speed limit. I was annoyed with myself and also resigned as I opened the glove compartment of the car to give him my registration. Turned out that the registration was out of date too. Fortunately, my husband, G. had taped a “State Troopers Are Our Friends” placard on the window behind the driver side. I guess this has saved him from getting a ticket in the past. It seemed to work this time too. Or else the trooper had looked up my license number on his computer and found that I did indeed have insurance and also a 2012 registration for my car, even though I didn’t have it with me.

The upshot of this incident is not about being stopped for speeding or not getting a ticket. What really happened is that I noticed I had something that I had discarded in the glove compartment that I had intended to throw out but had forgotten about. It was something that had belonged to someone who had not wished me good things in my life. I was superstitious about ill will attaching itself to me, as long as her effects were still in my possession. And here, unwittingly, I had been carrying it around in the glove compartment of my car. Which meant it followed me around everywhere, just about everyday.

So, yesterday, I scrutinized it again, wrapped it up in some newspaper and placed it with some trash that was discarded on the way home. It felt like my life lightened up right away. On the way home, I silently took the time to acknowledge that the bad karma it represented was now absent from my life as well. And gave thanks.

This week now opens today without the onus of that bad luck charm following me around anymore. I guess that as many of us have good luck charms, there are those that bring us bad luck as well. In any case, I believe that. And I’m glad to be rid of it now.

What a favor it was, it turns out, to have been stopped by the policeman for speeding along a country lane. I didn’t get a ticket. I went online to get a pdf of my 2012 car registration. I printed it out when we got home and put it into the glove compartment where it belonged. And I especially breathed a sigh of relief that a kind of curse had been removed from following me around.

Today is a new day, freed from bad karma. And it took a policeman to help me find the way. Go figure.