WATCH OUT FOR THE PO-PO . . .

A police officer followed me home today.

Yes, as in HOME, as in INTO MY DRIVEWAY, as in WATCHED ME PARK MY CAR IN MY PARKING SPACE, as in STOPPED HIS PATROL CAR PERPENDICULAR TO MINE SO THAT I WOULD NOT FLEE, as in FLASHING LIGHTS ALL OVER MY BAD SELF, as in HALF MY NEIGHBOURS JUST HAPPENED TO BE IN THE PARKING LOT AT THE TIME, as in THEY ALL HAD TO STOP WHAT THEY WERE DOING TO SEE WHAT WAS GOING DOWN IN OUR SLEEPY LITTLE PARKING LOT WITH THE TINY LITTLE ASIAN GIRL.

There are four inane corollaries to the fact that a police officer followed me home today:

1. Apparently, two of my three brake lights are out, and "THAT, ma'am, is an equipment violation."

2. Apparently, having a police car follow me home and sit in my driveway with all its lights on thrills me just a little bit and makes me feel just a wee bit like a bad-ass.

3. Apparently, I am pretty and I can bring my "pretty self" to the station tomorrow after I get the bulbs replaced so that they can void my ticket.

4. Apparently, being called "pretty," even by the po-po, is just what was needed to put a small smile on my face after a completely smile-less week. And make me blush. I'm a sucker for a man in uniform packing heat.

***

NEW FRONTIERS . . .

In every industry -- law, medicine, science, education, etc. -- pre-existing boundaries are expansing (or in some cases, disappearing completely). We are constantly pushing into new frontiers. I was reminded of this while reading about a judgment in a local wrongful birth suit.

Yes, I said "wrongful birth." As in "this birth was wrong." As in "this birth never should have happened and I'm mad that it did, and so I'm suing you because this baby never should have been born but for your mistake, and now I want money for my pain and suffering resulting from the birth that happened wrongfully."

Eh, I don't want to get into it all -- abortion, partial-abortion, genetic testing, things that happen in test-tubes, medical selection, ethics, religion, what's right for the parents, what's right for the child, what's right for society. I could go on and on about it all, taking all sides at once, and still coming out with no resolution.

But I have to say ... it's got to suck to be the kid growing up knowing that your parents didn't want you, wouldn't have had you but for a medical mistake, and that they sued for the pain, suffering and emotional distress that resulted from having you when they didn't want you in the first place.

All of a sudden, my life's pain is INVISIBLE.