The Sliding Doors Theory

While on my most recent road trip through Texas, I got a speeding ticket. In the little town of Hubbard, TX. I had just left Corsicana and had pastries occupying my entire front seat. The officer, who was very polite, asked if I was from Hubbard and I told him I lived in Denton but was doing a little road trip over the holiday weekend. I didn't have my up to date insurance card in my car, but apparently he was able to look it up and see that I was legit. So I didn't get cited for that. But I did get a ticket.

This annoyed me for a couple reasons.

First, I am not a speeder. I know that this ticket would suggest otherwise, but I'm really not. I am that person who set my cruise to right at the speed limit when I'm on the freeway. I sometimes get risky and go up to 77 (when the posted speed limit is 75). Most of my trip involved back roads that go through small towns. In that case the speed limit drops as you enter the city limits, and then drops again when you are in the middle of the city. I follow this speed limit drop all the time. I also follow it as I leave the city - the gradual increase back to 70 (yes, the back roads in Texas are 70 MPH!). I missed this one though, as I was clocked going 66 in a 50 on my way out of town. I honestly did not know what the speed limit was at the time.

Second, I had stopped for a quick second in the middle of town to get a picture of the Dairy Queen. Yes, the Dairy Queen. You see, all towns in Texas have a Dairy Queen. I love this because I love blizzards. I wanted to document it. Even though I had seen Dairy Queens in all the previous cities I had gone through, I hadn't yet stopped to take a photo of one. I decided this was the right time to do so.

If I had not stopped, I would not have been in the exact place I was at the time the police officer pulled me over. I would have already been in the 70 MPH area of the road. And then, the entire time to my next stop in Waco, I couldn't stop thinking about if I had just not stopped. It was my Sliding Doors moment.

You know the Gwyneth Paltrow movie, "Sliding Doors," right? She misses the train and doesn't miss the train - we get to see both scenarios play out. I wrote about once before. I would like to live in the timeline where I didn't get a ticket.

Because it's $200. I've bought roundtrip plane tickets for less.