Who gets lost in Otterville?

It is always good for your self-esteem and your mental well-being to know you are not alone and maybe even not the worst.

My lack of a sense of direction has brought me lots of laughs and has given me the opportunity to see new places, forests, farmland, creeks and rivers I would never have visited had I not been lost. The most beautiful landscapes are often those never before seen.

I was excited the other day to find someone even more deficient. I mean, who gets lost in Otterville? She was coming to my place from the opposite direction from her usual way and, in her defence, that would throw me off, too. But it is Otterville!

Got the call telling me which street she was on so told her it would take her to Main Street, assuming she would then have her bearings. “Down the hill, over the bridge and up the hill.” Several minutes later the phone rings, stating she had crossed Hwy 59 and was at the vegetable stand. “You turned the wrong way, so turn around, cross back over 59, come back into town, down the hill, over the bridge and up the hill, at the top of the hill, I will be on the porch waving.”

As I stood waving and jumping up and down she drove by scanning the other side of the street. I waited figuring she would realize she missed it and would turn around and come back. Some 15 minutes later I thought she must have hit Springford and decided she might as well go home but the phone rings again. She had decided to turn on the GPS and as unbelievable as it may seem, she was at Ritchie’s in Norwich. Have to say we are both laughing by this time.

“When you drive out of Ritchie’s parking lot turn right and drive to the corner, turn right, back into Otterville, down the hill, over the bridge and up the hill. See you in a bit.”

Another 10 or so minutes the phone rings and she was in Norwich Foodland parking lot. We were laughing hysterically now. She had turned right out of Ritchie’s parking lot but instead of coming back to the Otterville corner, as I assumed she would, she took the first road to the right which took her back into Norwich.

The instructions became more complicated now. “When you come out of the Foodland parking lot, turn right. You will hit Main Street, turn left; at the stop light turn right, Stover Street/Hwy 59. Go all the way to the corner where you crossed 59 the first time and turn right again back into Otterville, down the hill, over the bridge and back up the hill, four houses on the right.” Good thing I was again jumping up and down and waving like a crazy person because she almost drove right by again.

This was way past fun or even funny. I haven’t laughed so hard in a long time and it did my heart and my mind good. We had a good visit, often bursting into tips of giggles thinking how it took over three quarters of an hour to make a 30 second trip.

Lesson: Always be specific and never assume anything!

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