Me, the putz

I'll start this with a confession: I have a phobia of getting lost while driving. This phobia manifests itself as anxiety and sometimes avoidance of driving by myself to places I've never been to - especially at night. This includes addresses that are just across town. For some reason, I lose my sense of direction pretty easily, I get disoriented, and I've been known to go into panic mode and start crying if I miss a turn. And missing a turn is not all that unusual for me since my night vision pretty much sucks. It blows me away how some people can fly to a different state, rent a car, and just start driving around with confidence. I would be a nervous wreck.

Anyhow, this story isn't all that dramatic, but now that you have the back-story, it'll make more sense.

So last night I was supposed to meet some girlfriends at Super Suppers across town. I've never been there before, so I got directions from the internet and carefully examined the map that popped up as well as the text driving directions. It looked pretty straightforward, although it called for freeway driving (freeway driving at night, another source of anxiety for me). Sometimes I will actually do a trial run during the day to a new address just to make sure I can find the place without a hitch. But this time I didn't. So I rush the kids through dinner last night, put Finn to bed early, and head out the door. I get in my truck, get on the freeway, exit where I'm supposed to, and . . . somewhere I miss a turn. By the time I realize I've way overshot where I was supposed to turn, I've already made a loop and am more than halfway back home. I wasn't about to turn around and try and look for the mysterious street I had missed (my big fear, ridiculous as it might be, when I miss a turn is that I'll somehow end up in a different county and be forever lost). Meanwhile, the girls I was supposed to meet are wondering where I am. I get home, feeling like a complete idiot, and the phone rings. It's one of my friends calling to check on me, so I had to explain to her what had happened. Very embarassing.