On Friday when I was doing some training for my sitter job, I didn't bring a phone charger in the car. So when I left, planning to find my way to my friends' apartment which was "up that way," too, from home, I didn't know where I was going. Loveland to Mason. I know they're geographically close, but I don't know what roads connect them, lol.
So I kind of drove around a bit, up a road that looked like it was going towards a water tower and some power lines that looked familiar, and down another road that ended up not being familiar at all.
Eventually, and this was like 10 minutes after leaving their house, I found the Meijer and Sam's Club that I've been to before in that area. Finally, somewhere familiar! I knew where I was, but I just didn't know where that was in relation to where I wanted to go... Anyway. I knew I couldn't get my phone to charge or anything, so I knew I was going to have to either wander around for a while (I had a couple hours before the Halloween party started that I was going to, so I had time to kill), or I would have to ask for directions. From a stranger. And the only businesses I'd seen so far had been gas stations and things, and I was not about that.
So, Sam's Club, I figure there are nice people there, it's a cool store. They have really good chip selection there. The people give you tastes of the food you could buy, hot and ready from their booths. It's a cool place. So I pulled into the Sam's Club parking lot and sat in my car, and I told myself, "Alright, Ashley, you're going to go in there, and you're going to ask somebody for directions. You're an adult. You can do it."
So I did.
I grabbed my purse and walked toward the entrance just like the other people in the parking lot. I felt kind of conspicuous for no reason, but sometimes our self-doubt feeds itself embarrassment from imagined sources...
I walked in the door, and the lady there by the entrance was immediately welcoming. She looked like that nice neighbor who's retired and makes quilts in her free time and gave you a handmade candy apple for Halloween when you were little. The kind of lady that your mom would probably hug every Sunday, because she used to teach her in Sunday school. I don't know, she just seemed like she had loved generations of people and now she was loving them from the entrance of the Sam's Club in Loveland.
So I asked her, kind of haltingly, "Hi, are you busy? Do you think you could give me directions?" And I explained my phone being dead, and everything.
And she was just like, "Well I'll try! Where do you need to go?"
"...Mason?"
"Where in Mason?"
I was stumped for a minute because I only knew the routing address that I put into my phone, not the roads it was on or the part of town.
She told me she only knew landmarks, and asked what it was close to. And then I remembered.
"Oh! There's a Red Robin right at the place where we turn."
And she knew the Red Robin in Mason! I was so excited. I just made a connection. Hehe
So she explained how to get there, and I wrote the directions down in my notebook. There were lefts and rights and there were street names and "at the intersection with the two gas stations and the CVS" and stuff. I was very impressed.
I thanked her and she smiled and it made me so happy.
So yeah. After that, I followed those directions! I missed a turn because I thought I knew where I was, but after I missed it, the road immediately became unfamiliar. But eventually I ended up at the Red Robin, and that was exciting, and then I got to my friends' apartment, which was also exciting.
I did a thing. A scary thing. Yay. x)
