Directionally Challenged

Friday 12/2/2022 

I have twenty minutes set aside to write before I leave. Hopefully, this drive will be uneventful...

Sunday 12/4/2022 2:10 PM

...unlike Friday's foray into Clayton for Christy Anne's book launch party. That trip was two hours of hell going back and forth along Route 42 and intermittent adventures trying out the side roads. Impatient drivers made their displeasure known as I tried to make three-point turns at several busy intersections.

Of course, I lacked the "phone a friend" option. I didn't have the phone number of anyone who could help. I stopped several times to read my pre-printed directions. Can't see anything without my reading glasses. All I could do was continue to traverse the main and occasional side roads. 

Around 6:45 PM, among the incoming traffic feeding from some unknown-to-me highway came a deputy sheriff who couldn't help but notice my car parked on the side of the road, emergency flashers going. (I was looking in vain for an opportunity to turn around). The sheriff pulled alongside my car and we both rolled down our windows. "What seems to be the problem?" she asked. I admitted that I was hopelessly lost. Then the deputy sheriff put on her vehicle's strobe lights and parked behind me.

Now I had to roll down my passenger window to speak with the deputy sheriff. I told her how I left early, determined to reach my destination in time, but: 

• My GD GPS wouldn't turn on. 
• It was dark. 
• Clayton had construction barrels lined up for miles. 
• I couldn't read my written directions without pulling over. 
• Major intersections and side streets lacked visible street names. 
• I was an hour late already.

The stress in my voice was unmistakable.

This wonderful lady deputy said I was only nine minutes away from the street I needed. Then she blocked all traffic with her car so we could both change direction. From that minute on, I followed her all the way to Christy's door. 

(Hmm...I never went THIS far west on the main road).

The party was in full swing when I rang Christy's doorbell. Everyone in the house was wondering why they saw the strobing lights on their quiet street. "My police escort," I explained.

While I missed the children's coloring drawings of characters in The Lower World, I enjoyed the delicious finger food and conversations with the party-goers. Before the event ended at 8:00 PM, I got Christy's phone number "just in case" I needed help getting home. Thankfully, I found my way home easily.  

Anyway, when I leave on Sunday for a Christmas party that starts at 4:00 PM, I will give myself an extra half-hour buffer to reach the daytime event. I'll be sure to enter our hostess' phone number into my cell phone's memory.