This week I was on the Merritt Parkway in CT, heading home from a location shoot, and I was pulled over and ticketed for a speeding violation. Me, Mar Jennings, the guy who has a perfect record, was somehow and unjustifiably being pulled over – how could this be happening? The officer could not care less about my perfect record or anything else I had to say to him. He was rude, unpleasant demanding only to see my license and registration. That is until he recognized me, but he still gave me a ticket.
As he walked away on that beautiful spring day, I chose to think of something happier and took a moment to reflect on my whirlwind of a ride this year: filming Dream Weddings, Northeast Living and Better TV, plus visiting Pennsylvania for my live QVC appearances. (And then realized that not once, mind you, was I ever pulled over for speeding!) Regardless of my crazy and sometimes hectic schedule, I do always pride myself on finding the time to be grateful and appreciative. Rather than speeding through life, I prefer to coast, slowly gathering knowledge, experiences, and memories. Why run through the fields when you could stop and smell the flowers? Heck, I not only try to smell the flowers while on the fast road of life but I also pick them, arrange them and come up with a creative way to display them, too. The hard reality is that the only thing speeding in my life is time.
Now that April has arrived, it brings rebirth in the garden, and old memories of yesterday bloom in my mind, too. The anniversary of my devoted friend and confidant’s passing is this week; it’s wonderful to remember, as it was with his support and guidance that I found my purpose, my voice and my vocation in life. I’m not guilty of speeding on the road of life – or on the road, period. But I am guilty of loving my life and cherishing those people that forever changed it. I wish he had just given me a ticket for that!
