after my lackadaisical post on tuesday, i figure i owe you one. a good one. how about an embarrassing story?
i’m walking to my car after my yearly physical (note: i’m a bit flustered after all that poking and prodding) when i notice a car idling nearby, so i jump in and pull mine out of the way. (we all know that excitement upon finding a parking spot + i hate keeping people waiting = me rushing.) i continue driving down the one way road and turn left at the light, but in my slightly incoherent state, forget to make another, essential, left.
and just like that, i’m lost in kendall square.
i’m not really lost.
i recognize my surroundings, which is saying a lot for this geographically challenged gal, but i can’t quite figure out the minor detail of which direction to go. at one point i consider rolling down the window and calling out my friend L’s name. she works nearby. she could rescue me. alas, the saving of the damsel in distress fell to the damsel in distress.
i catch sight of the Pru and phew! i know what to do. i want to be going away from it, not towards. i quickly fix that mistake and am patiently waiting to turn left at the next light. it turns green. no left arrow pops up, but yet no one is moving on the other side, so i go. and then so do the other cars. AHHHHHHHHH TURN NOW TURN NOW TURN NOW QUICKLY TURN NOW TURN TURN TURN TURN is a small sample of my thought process and then i’m turning and OMG OMG OMG IS THIS A, OH YES IT IS, HELP! ME! I CAN’T STOP! STUPID PHYSICS AND INERTIA AND AHHHHHH, I’M IN MOTION AND I CAN’T STOP AND CARS CARS CARS AHHH!
(allow me to translate my hysterics: the place where i turn? it’s a double lane, i.e. i just turned INTO ONCOMING TRAFFIC.) (consider me a lot flustered.)
i may be a woman. i may have blonde hair. i may not drive all that much in the city BUT I HAVE NEVER DONE THAT BEFORE. i am half laughing and half hyperventilating and fully unwilling to make eye contact with the guy who’s sitting in the car i turn next to. i can only imagine the expression on my face as i consider continuing down the road to a place i can turn around OR driving over the median in the road OR wait, i could just turn around right here right now. there are three things that support this decision. (1) they have a red light, (2) there is no one in the second lane, so voila, room to turn around, (3) common sense.
i execute the perfect three point turn (the return of my good driving skills, phew!) and when a break in traffic comes, i drive to the correct side of the road and just like that, i’m at work in less than 10 minutes.
admittedly though, still shaking.
i told you mine, now you tell me yours.
Abigail Mumford 
OMG! You poor thing. I don’t know if I can top that. (Of course, now that I’ve said that, something is sure to happen. Just the way my life works. *grin*)
i am more than happy to bestow the crown of embarrassment upon your head. warning: it’s thorny!
Very descriptive. Good!
i’m sure glad you chose to focus on my writing skills rather than those of my driving. :)
This reminds me of our car trips in Italy. See not making eye contact makes it less embarrassing. So pooh pooh to those who laughed at me ;P
but you weren’t the driver, so therefore, it’s not your fault and therefore, it shouldn’t be embarrassing. i was more scared that we were going to get stuck — those are so narrow roads!
this experience was fully embarrassing because i was the driver. it’s no one’s fault but mine. whoops.