My very first car was a 1986 Mercury Topaz, with a manual transmission. The moment I got behind the wheel, I made a decision that I would play a game with it, in that I would keep it above 3000 RPM at all times. I was so proud of that car as I had purchased it with my hard-earned money from the farm. It was easy enough to keep at that RPMs in the lower gears, but once I got into fifth gear, it meant I was going about 180 kms/hr. I have no fear of speed, and I had no hesitations about driving that fast. Growing up in Alberta, the roads are flat, and straight, and you can see for miles. The only consideration to keep in mind were the deer and moose, but you could usually see those coming too. 

I was 17 years old, a straight A student, and the point guard for the high school basketball team.

Life was okay, despite the fact that my father had passed away, but I had started dating this older boy from another town who was into some mischievous shenanigans. I wasn’t fully aware of the full spectrum of his antics, but I knew enough to know I was going in the wrong direction. I was at the tipping point in my life, where the decisions I was about to make were going to send me on a trajectory of a life I could never imagine.  I didn’t see it coming. 

One night, I received a call from the guy I was dating, letting me know he had been arrested and was spending the night in jail for theft over $5,000.

He needed me to drop off bail money in the morning before I went to work.

I didn’t even consider the ramifications of his actions, and how this was going to affect my life. I simply went ahead and agreed to what he was asking. I did the math, and decided that if I kept my car above that 3,000 RPM point, I’d be able to make it to his town, and then to my work just in time. What I didn’t account for was the 50 km/hr zone on the way to my work. I made the decision to keep the car at 180 km/hr. Needless to say, the cops pulled me over immediately. To this day, I don’t understand why they let me drive away, instead of towing my car. Talk about excessive speeding! 

I was given a court date, however, and was told I would lose my license for thirty days. At this time, I was driving myself to school and basketball practice and this was a fast and immediate end to the freedom I had created for myself.

Devastation set in, and I became angry, and bitter.

I made a decision at that moment that I despised authority, and that no one could ever tell me what to do. I was livid, and I felt trapped. After having received freedom in my own vehicle at the age of 16, this 30 day suspension felt like a lifetime.

This decision to hate authority carried forward to many other opportunities of meeting with and butting heads with authority figures. What I didn’t understand at the time was that it was part of my nature to rebel. I didn’t see the big picture of the rebellion until much later in life, when I was able to leverage it to my advantage. But for now, this attitude, and this rage toward the police, was about to set me up for a series of events that would not be much fun. I was about to embark on a journey into the depths of despair, and there was nothing that could stop me from going there.