My husband and I are struggling through on the marriage thing.
Not in a bad way, but it is emotionally and thus physically exhausting.
So a small story about what a goof I am, as a distraction.
On Thursday I packed up 3/4s of my brood (2 boys and youngest girl) and headed out into the open prairie that surrounds our city.
The sixteen year old was the designated navigator and he had very detailed directions on how to get to our friends acreage, clutched in his hand.
I wasn't that concerned anyway, because although it is a bit tricky to find, I did have my trusty cell phone.
Which showed us that we had no service as soon as we got within six km of her house. And we ended up driving around for nearly 30 minutes before we through sheer accident happened upon her home.
Okay, maybe the fates intervened too, because what with me and my darling oldest son being dyslexic, neither of us realized that we had made a crucial turn as a left instead of as a right.
Our arrival meant rejoicing all around and we had a lovely visit.
And then, a few hours later with the shadows of early evening lengthening on the land, we prepared to go.
This time, not only did my friend draw a map and go over explicitly, every twist and turn in it and make us repeat it back, she also had her husband do the same - with both me and my son.
So, you may ask, how is it that we ended up driving for a full half hour in the wrong direction?
Even after I called my husband during one of the few moments that my cel phone had service to ask for help?
Even after he managed to tell me that I was east of the city which was my hoped for destination?
I don't know.
Some things are not meant to be within the ken of humankind and that includes how I could then announce to the car at large that we were east of the city which meant to get to the city we needed to keep driving east.
Yup, I'm a dork.
And my son comes by his navigational deficits honestly.
So boiled down:
-it was pitch black
-we were travelling far off the beaten trail
-and had we not decided to aim for a cluster of lights that slowly became a town - we would probably be stuck out in a ditch somewhere, even now.
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4 comments:
I have no sense of direction. At all. Unless the sun happens to be rising or setting.
I compensate by memorizing street names and routes. Works fine around town but in a strange place I'm apt to get turned around, even with a map.
Hopeless.
This could so be me. Except we would add to the fun that Honey's first language is different from mine, so when he gave me directions over the phone he might use some words in another language or reverse some letters (I street becomes E street) because that's how it is in his native tongue. Of course said words would be among those I don't know, but I don't know that I don't know until I am looking for what I thought he said at which point I am out of cell range and unable to call him back, or he has turned off his cell because. . . well, he doesn't need a reason, he just does sometimes. You get the idea, this is my life.
That could be me. The Huz calls me the directionally impaired.
I had a similar experience yesterday. I had to stay late for a meeting so it was dark when I was on my way to pick up the boys from daycare. There was an accident with firetrucks and police filling the road I usually take, which sent me on a detour. I thought I knew where I was going on roads that I have been diving casually for about seven years, but I quickly got turned around and confused in the dark. I was starting to feel panicky because the daycare would soon close and my little guys would be worried about where I was. Finally I got on a road I remembered and managed to get back on track. I got there 5 minutes before closing and wasn't even the last parent to arrive. Phew!
Glad you knew to drive toward the lights. We dyslexics have hidden sensibilities that pull us through even when confused.
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