[Adventures] in Being Lost

 

[Adventure 277]

My children have great confidence in my ability to get us lost. And local road construction has given me plenty of opportunities to prove them right (or not) lately. 

Take the time Onyx and I were going to feed my friend Renee's cats while she was at a concert. There was some sort of road closure ahead, so I took the road before the road with the detour sign. Onyx was certain I immediately got us lost. At one point I commented that Beach Street - one of the side streets we passed - sounded familiar. They took this as evidence that we were, indeed, lost. Miraculously, the street turned out to be the one I thought it was and I successfully got us to Renee's house.

Another time I was on my way to church with Austen. I knew there were several spots on Route 6 that were down to one lane because of construction, so I took us on an alternate route and immediately took a wrong turn. When I finally figured out where we were, we happened upon a closed road and had to take yet another detour. 

Then, seeing more construction ahead, I took a backroad I'd taken in the past. We had a very nice drive through rural neighborhoods and fairly dense forest. At one point I turned left and mentioned that I probably should have taken the road to the right. I kept going anyway. My husband called on his lunch break from work, while we were laughing hysterically about being lost. We mentioned landmarks and he looked them up on Google maps and told us which way we should be going - which was the way I was already going. We soon passed the other end of the road I should have turned on a while before. 

Would we have seen the shiny rhinocerous or the fancy house with the stone pond and wagon wheels if we didn't get lost? No. Should we have used Google Maps ourselves to find our way? Also no. Was it worth it? Yes.

The same night, on our way home from church, the road ahead was closed by many firetrucks and police cars. I took a series of backroads that both Onyx and Austen were certain were an indication of our being lost once again. Although my route was a little more out of the way than in needed to be, I knew exactly where I was going the entire time. Ok...maybe not the entire time, but I ended up where I planned to end up and knew my way from there.

Sometimes you need to get lost. You need to opt for adventure. You never know where it will take you or what memories you'll make on the way.