I believe that without mistakes, there would be no learning. How would the three little pigs know that their houses wouldn’t hold up, if the wolf hadn’t blown them down first? How would the hair know that dozing off would ruin his chances of winning if the tortoise hadn’t beat him to the finish line? “You never know until you try,” my father always tells me. I agree this is true.

I first realized this when I was just about nine years old. I was out in Palm Springs with some of my friends, and we were begging to my mother. “Please let us go outside!” I pleaded. “No.” she responded simply. “Luna is on her way, and she’ll take you. You’re to young to go by yourself.” We all finally gave up, and promised we’d stay back in my room for the rest of the night.

When we shut the door closed behind us, I was surprised to see Saharah, one of my friends strapping on her bike helmet. “What are you doing?” I asked. But she responded by stepping outside into the cool, night air.

“Are you coming?” she demanded. Everyone was frozen with shock. Not just because they were surprised with Saharah, but because they didn’t know what the right choice was. It was either listen to your parents, or listen to your friends.

We all eventually were pulled into Saharah’s persuasive speech. We were on our way down our street, when we heard an engine roar behind us. This was followed by a siren, and lights that flashed red and blue. It was the police, and he gestured for us to pull over. “Run!” Saharah suggested, but this time no one listened to her.

“Please direct me back to your house.” he ordered. “You’re not allowed to be out this late without an adult accompanying you.”

Luckily, my parents had already left, but Luna was outside pacing worriedly. “There you are!” She ran over and hugged each and every one of us. We were too ashamed to push her and her tear-drenched face away. “I was so scared.”

Later that night when we were all in bed, I overheard Luna telling my parents about “The Incident.” Even though I could hardly hear their responses, I could picture the disappointed looks shared between their faces.

The next morning, my parents wouldn’t talk to me about it, which was almost even worse then being yelled at.

“Hey, Mom.”

“Hi.”

“What are we doing today?”

“Whatever.”

She wasn’t trying to hide how distraught she really was, and it was then I decided I would NEVER disobey my parents ever again. Sneaking out was wrong, and if I had known the consequences, I wouldn’t have done it in the first place. The only bright side of the entire situation was learning the fact that I know what would happen if I ever dared do it again.