Thursday night.
I’d waited all week for this. I ran my errands early and cooked dinner so I could climb into my pajamas and plant myself on the sofa to watch two of my favorite guilty pleasures. The Vampire Diaries and the season premiere of Bones.
The popcorn was popped, the dogs had been fed, watered, and taken out on at least two occasions to ensure their comfy sleepiness for the next two hours, and I was settled into my favorite spot with the TV remote in hand.
Nothing was going to come between me and my television!
That’s when my phone rang. It was my daughter. She needed me to drive to the other side of town to pick her up and drive her back to her car. The story of how she got to where she was without her car is too confusing to write about…but after she explained it to me three times, I finally understood and I reluctantly agreed to come get her. After all, it was only going to take me twenty minutes. I would only miss part of my favorite show.
For those of you who don’t know…I have night blindness. I can’t see anything at night unless it’s directly in the wash of the headlights. I’ve been known to get lost within walking distance to my house as the blackness swallows up every shred of scenery, landmarks, and road signs. So I rely on GPS and blind luck to get me where I’m going. Mostly the GPS. So I plugged in the address she texted me, and set off to find my daughter.
Twenty minutes later, she called me. I should have been there by now. And according to my GPS, I was within a few yards of my destination. The only problem was I still couldn’t find where I was going. In escalating volume, I shared my location with my daughter, shouting out the few landmarks that were lit well enough for me to see. She didn’t recognize a single bank, veterinarian, or sushi bar.
The GPS had lied and I was lost.
I backtracked my way to the main road with my daughter on the line telling me every turn I had missed and fifteen minutes later I was there.
She jumped into the passenger seat and we set off to her car. She chastised me the whole way for having disregarded her directions and for plugging in the wrong address into the GPS. This was obviously why I was lost.
I was delighted when we got back to her car. I still had time to catch the end of my show if I hurried. Well, I would have, if she hadn’t left her keys with her friend…twenty minutes in the other direction.
We drove back in complete silence.
In fact, we drove all the way there and back to her car in complete silence. The entire time, I was thinking about my popcorn and my warm blanket. And my remote control all alone on my comfy sofa.
After she drove off in her car, I checked the text message she sent me with the address…you know…just for kicks.
Yeah…she put the wrong house number in.
I didn’t say anything. Trust me, it’s better that way. Sometimes as a parent you just have to smile and drive away. And if you’re a writer, you go home and feed a young girl to your favorite vampires…you know…just for kicks. It’s only fiction, right?
Until the next time…I’ll be writing some awesome vampire fiction!