Rule Follower

Within the last few months I have come to the conclusion that I am a rule follower.  I'm not talking about someone who tries to follow the rules, but understands that some rules can be circumvented because of circumstances.  I'm talking about a person who tries to follow the rules, and gets anxious when even considering the idea of "bending" the rule even just a little bit.

EXAMPLE A

This morning I was taking the children to school.  Because we haven't moved into our house yet, and I thought we would be in it by now, they were already enrolled in their new school, so I need to drive them everyday across the valley.  As we were turning to get on the interstate I considered timing it just right so I'd get to the metered light just as it turned green, therefore I wouldn't have to stop before getting onto the freeway.  Guess what I did.  I stopped.  Yes, I stopped.  And I did it because I started to feel sick to my stomach about not stopping when I know I probably should.  There wasn't a police car around, and there was only one other car near me who would notice.  But, I stopped.  And, then I questioned why I didn't just go through the light even though I could have.

EXAMPLE B

We were playing a game one night, and the children were not following the rules of the game.  They had made up their own rules for the game.  Were they having fun?  Yes.  What was my reaction?  I have similar reactions to fingernails being scratched on a chalkboard.  The creepy crawly feeling going up and down my spine.  I finally turned to Jon and said something like, "Is it okay if I just leave?  This is just driving me crazy.  I can't take it anymore!"  Yes, my children were having fun, but I was not ... it just bothered me too much.

EXAMPLE C

We have been waiting for keys for our house for a week.  Last Saturday we were planning on moving, but it didn't work out because the seller hadn't signed the documents and handed over the keys to us.  On Sunday we went to our new church for the first time and stopped at the house on the way home.  Jon got out and because of curiosity, he checked the lock box to see if the key was still there.  (Now, don't go telling on us ... our realtor gave us the key code so we could measure for appliances.  He figured we weren't going to go do something to the house or something.)  There was a key there, and it was new.  Jon came back to the car and we went home.  Later, he said, "We probably could have moved in and no one would have known."  And, just that one statement sent me into a semi-hyperventilating state.  Um, no.  That's against the rules.  We can't do that, we just can't.  Even if it means we are homeless on Saturday.