Give Me A Sign - Shell's Chronicles of Dumbass-ery (Episode 2)
Good morning, my Lovelies, and welcome to another episode of Shell's Chronicles of Dumbass-ery. Throughout my life I have done so much that I could classify as dumbass-ery. Many of these things I don't even think about anymore until I have something trigger my memory. Some of these things have become teachable moments, laughable lessons, if you will.
Depending on how epic or how funny people think these things are, we can find ourselves reminded of these things for years. Well, with my family you might as well be prepared for a walk down memory lane each and every time you see them. This story I"m about to tell you has given my family giggles for many, many years.
When I was in college a group of friends and I went to an off-campus, out of town, even, party. We went in my friend's car and I was not the one driving so I didn't pay much attention to the roads we took getting there. We went, we partied, we had a great time. Or, we did until my friend started not feeling well. I'll go out on a limb here and say too much alcohol probably played a part in her sickness. With her sick and none of the others who were with us being from the area and unsure of how to return to school, I was designated to drive us home.
Now, let me preface this by saying that though it was the area I had grown up in, had roamed around my entire life, there were roads I'd never been on and I was uncertain about traveling them. Maps were not my thing and yes, I'm fucking old enough that cell phones were just coming into existence, so GPS wasn't a thing.
With my friend about to puke and having to hang out the window to try to get fresh air, off we went. I drove us back to school taking the only roads I knew for sure would get us there. Yes, even when we went past an exit that was signed to take you directly to the town where my college is located.
What do I mean? Well, I saw the sign, but being unfamiliar with the road, I had no idea where the road came out and couldn't imagine it would be any faster than the way I knew would definitely take us to the right place. Yes, I'm a dumbass.
You see, it never occurred to me that had I gone ahead and taken that exit there would be a damn good chance that when we got to the end of it, there would be another sign pointing me in the right direction. My friends even tried to convince me of this. But being the hardheaded teen that I was, I knew best.
We did eventually make it back to school and I got my friend tucked into her dorm to deal with a massive hangover. In speaking to my parents the next day, well, let's just say that my dumbass-ery became legendary in their minds and this particular moment is joked about all the time and has been joked about for the better part of 30 years.
What would have happened had I followed the sign and taken the exit? We would have been back at school in 15 minutes.
What did happen? It took us most of an hour... My saving grace is that I've learned from my mistake. I've gotten very good at following the signs, whether that is on the road or in other areas of my life.
As I'm currently coming to a crossroads in my life, more specifically, my career, I hope that lesson I learned all those years ago continues to stay with me and guide me. At this point, I can use all the signage I can get!
.jpg)
Comments
Post a Comment