Double Dipping....

Today I am double dipping. I am joining Slice of Life and posting my slice on Big Time Literacy for today's blog prompt also. Two Writing Teachers have been hosting the Slice of Life for awhile now and their daily writing challenge comes in March. They have a weekly SOL every week on Tuesday. Daily writing in March is definitely more challenging for me with parent/teacher conferences and Spring Break.

A lot of times it is difficult to gather my thoughts in order to "just begin." I have to just start typing random thoughts and go back and edit. Does this happen to you? Many times it is because I am overwhelmed. I think about the many things I could put into writing and the various angles and perspectives that I could write from. So this is me, typing random stuff, hoping a beginning falls into place soon.

The Ticket....
My new district is on top of the training. And I always forget about that mindset that training bad, boring and a waste of time until I am in a training. I love training. I know that makes me the odd man out, but I never feel like I know enough, have enough tools, or am equipped enough to fall into the "set in my ways" category. So I was enjoying the training that all teachers in my district attend when they start teaching in this district. On day three though, I was running just a couple minutes late. Not a biggie, I would still be on time, but without the usual wiggle room. So I jumped into my car and start to back out... crunch. The lady who parks behind my driveway every. single. day. in spite of my warnings that I cannot see her back there was parked there again. And I did not see her. again. But it was the first time (thankfully) that I hit her. Now a million thoughts are racing through my head. I pull back into the drive. I am not going to be on time. First things first. I go knock on the neighbors door. I tell her, "I hit your car." After a less than civil remark from her, I went back out of to find my phone and call it in. The officers arrive. For some reason, it took two of our civil servants to fill out the report and file this. and issue me a citation. *sigh*

So now I miss the first hour of our training, I "get" to pay a ticket, and I am sure my insurance will go up. Not having fun. A little bit cranky in fact. This is exacerbated by the neighbor being rude about it. Did she really think I was hoping to be late? To get a ticket? To increase my insurance rates? I can see the smoke coming out of my ears.

Finally.... I get in my car and head down the road. I realize that I can stew in this for a long time if I want to. But I don't really want to. And I have a lot to be grateful for. Here's a short list of reasons to be grateful:

1. My car was legal: tags, insurance~ both up to date.
2. There was no damage to my car.
3. I am a law abiding citizen today so it is just a ticket, and I am just going to pay it. 

Oh, and when the neighbor is rude about hitting their car, I might just possibly drive by and chuckle when I see the extensive damage to her car and that there is only a slight scratch on my bumper. That right there might just give a girl an evil grin now and again.

You can join those of us who are rising to the BTL blogging challenge and read our Slice of Life, or you can go to the Two Writing Teachers blog and read about a LOT of different Slices of Life. The choice is up to you. But there are a lot of stories out there and it's fun to read them and to participate with a whole world of blogging teachers.