January 28, 2007

• Today I’m thinking about wrong turns.

  In life we have so many options, so many choices, all of them effecting us on a level that isn’t always easy to understand.

  Yup turns… sometimes right sometimes just left of wrong.

  Today I’m thinking about wrong turns.

  Once I went to visit a friend at the University of Michigan. It was our first year in college. The trip was a new experience for me, as I chose a college close to home where I could stay with my family. He was in a dorm… Ah the mystery of a dorm, A tiny room you could stretch your arms across and almost  touch the opposite wall. The communal bathroom and shower. Oh yes, dorm life was something I hadn’t experienced.

  This became very clear when I made the mistake of telling my friend that I wanted to go to the grocery store when we were in a room with eight of his guy friends. Yup. At eleven at night I ended up taking nine guys in a volkswagen bug to the local all night grocery store.

   I was driving in a town I had never been to before, on streets that were confusing and unknown.I had an elbow in my side, knees pushing at my back through the seat, a hand behind my head and the face of a stranger  over each shoulder. Talk about an uncomfortable ride. I however was the only one without someone on my lap. For this I was grateful.

  Well of course Being a car full of men they all had directions to give and all different. I ended up turning the wrong way. Is anyone surprised by that? Unfortunately it was the wrong way down a one way street.

  To make matters worse I couldn’t get the car in reverse, couldn’t see out the back window, and everyone had a solution they were yelling… Things kept snow balling getting worse and worse… all because of a wrong turn. We unloaded the car, I  popped it in neutral and the boys pushed it off  the street and onto the proper one, facing the right direction. The rest of our trip was uneventful and fun… the hard part on the return, was where to put the purchases. Some groceries were a little squished from being crammed into the tiny trunk around the spare tire… but they were still edible and no one was the worse for the wear.

  I learned several things from that trip… never announce that your going to a grocery store in a dorm. Never cram more then five people into a volkswagen bug, and most importantly if you  turn the wrong way down a one way street, don’t panic. You can always push your way out.

  Wrong turns… in life it would be great if they were all that easily fixed wouldn’t it?

  • 5:14 pm
  • 13 Comments