A New Adventure

Yesterday was the 2nd Thursday of the month, and thus, lunch with the Old School Gal Pals.

On my way to Durand to meet friends for lunch, I turned off Oak Grove road onto Beard and up to New Lothrop Road.  A 4-way stop sign there that I kind of looked both ways and rolled through and turned right.  This is my home turf.  These are roads I have ridden/driven on for 78 years.  I know them, so I may have become too casual in how I drive them.

On up to Bath and New Lothrop--another 4-way stop sign.  Someone had recently planted purple and gold mums, the school colors, in front of the Byron Village sign, in time for the Homecoming Football game today.  I said to myself, "Oh--that is so great!" I may have "idled" through. No traffic coming from either way. I think I stopped, after all I noticed and looked at the flowers, but……………

I got about an eighth of a mile when I noticed in my rear-view mirror a small, dark car behind me with flashing lights.  I thought at first it was the mail delivery car, but noticed it was going kind of fast. I decided I’d better pull over to let him get by.  It took me a few yards to find a place on the shoulder that was wide enough for me to pull over.  The car didn’t go by me, he pulled in behind me.  Oh My Gosh!  It must be a cop!

I put my flasher’s on, cranked down my window and watched as he walked up real slowly and cautious like to my window.  I decided I’d better put my hands on the steering wheel, where he could see them.

“Ma’am, I’m Shiawassee County Deputy Lawson.  Do you know why I stopped you?”

“I think so.  I didn’t make a full stop at New Lothrop and Beard Road.”

“That’s where I first picked you up.  (I'm, pretty good at spotting a "bear on the side", but I never saw him.) You also didn’t come to a complete, full stop at New Lothrop and Bath either.”

I wanted to argue a bit about that stop, after all, I saw the flowers and looked for traffic, but he was wearing a gun on his hip and had a taser at his belt, so I kept my mouth shut.

“Do you have a driver’s license, Ma’am?”

I handed it to him.

“You’re from Brighton?  Are you familiar with this area?”

“Yes.  I lived on Beard Road most of my life. Went to school here.  ”

“Where are you going today?”

“The girls I graduated with from Byron High School, sixty years ago…we get together every month for lunch.  Today we are meeting in Durand.”

“Where are you meeting?”

“At the Iron Horse Pub.”

“Oh, they have pretty good food there,” he says.

He goes on, “Do you think you deserve this ticket?”

“Yes, Sir.  I didn’t make a full stop…that is illegal, so…yes I deserve the ticket.  I don’t know how this works though.  Do I have to appear in court in Corunna (dreading the 50 mile trip to the County Court House)to pay the fine, or can I mail it in?  Oh, don't you need my registration and proof of insurance too?”

He never took my license back to sit in his car and check it out.

“Nope, I won't need those. You’ve never had a ticket before.”

“No Sir.  I’ve been driving 62 years and I’ve never even been stopped.  I’ve never had an accident, where I was at fault.  I’ve never even had a parking ticket.  So I don’t know how to go about paying this.”

Then he says, “Well, maybe you won’t have to. Are you a Godly woman?”  Which I guess was an unusual question, but I didn’t think so at the time.  Nice young man.  I'm near my hometown.  That might be a normal question.

“Yes, Sir.  I pray at night and in the morning and during the day.  I trust that God is always with me, keeping me safe. I talk to him all day.”

“If you would please, promise to pray for my safety every night.  Please pray for Deputy Lawson—spelled L.A.W.S.O.N.”

“Well, of course I will.”  And he handed my license back to me.

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Business over I said to him, “Do you know Bill Bohman?” (This is a friend I have known since he was a little kid.  He was a County Sheriff Deputy too, long since retired.)

“Sure I do.  I love Billy, Ryan, Brenda…the whole family.  How do you know Billy.”

“When he was a kid, he lived right up here on Lehring Road, I pointed up to the next cross road, next to my in-laws.  After my divorce, when my daughter and I were living alone, out in the country, on Beard Road and Bill was on patrol, he used to go past our house to make sure we were okay.  If it was night time, he’d slow down and shine the car spot-light in through the big living room windows and I’d wave.”

“Well, that’s why you and I met today.  The County Sheriff Department are now back…patrolling these rural areas again."

"Oh!  I am so glad!  I had a break-in once and it took the Deputy forty-five minutes to get to us.  They didn't have the patrols then.

"We started doing it back in January.  Our new Sheriff reinstated it again."

"Oh, Brian?"

"You know Brian too?"

"Well, not in person, but he was at my sister and brother-in-laws sale and bought the old cook stove and old heater from them for his new house."

"I've seen them both.  Rather remarkable old antiques."

"Yes."

"Now when you see Billy, you tell him I said “Hi”.

"I probably won't see him, but he's on Face Book and I'll tell him you sent your regards."

"How are you going to explain how we met?" he asked.

"Guess I'll have to tell him the truth.  He will get a chuckle outta it for sure!"

So—that’s how I met the gracious Deputy Lawson.  I so wanted to give him a grandma hug, such a handsome, sweet young man, but you know—the gun and taser—I decided not to make any quick moves.

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So I contacted Bill on Face Book when I got home.  He told me I had met the famous Craig Lawson of the Lawson Brother's Christian Band group.

Then this morning, a friend posted this:

Deputy Craig Lawson was assigned to the Secondary Road Patrol at the beginning of the year and has strived to make the roads in Shiawassee County safe for all of us. On Thursday Deputy Lawson took a few minutes off from traffic enforcement near Laingsburg High School to recruit our newest member-Deputy Evan.

It is my pleasure to inform you that Deputy Lawson was selected as the State of Michigan's Secondary Road Patrol Deputy of the year by The Office of Highway Safety and Planning and The Michigan Sheriff Association. Deputy Lawson will be presented the award at the MSA conference next month in Traverse City.

Thank you for your hard work and dedication Deputy Lawson.

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What a wonderful experience, that seemed kind of intimidating at first, but turned out to be one of the best of my last few years.

You bet I will pray for him each day!!!