Age Relevant

Watching TV, the weather station is teaching appropriate action to take in the midst of disaster.

What to do if an alligator comes for you?

What to do if an ice wave is moving toward your home?

What to do if you’re stuck in an elevator?

And many more solutions we might find useful one day.

I’m thinking, being the Senior Citizen I am, what to do if you realize you’re lost, and you’re driving by yourself a long way from home?

It happened to me.

I was in Greenville, Pa. on my way to Route 80 and at least a 370 mile drive eastbound into New Jersey – a travel destination of mine many times over the past forty years.  Coming past Thiel College heading to a main street in Greenville, I was like a homing pigeon. I would make a right turn at the light, proceed to the next light and make a left turn and drive straight maybe ten miles to the entrance onto Route 80. 

Then I was lost.   And I felt confused, almost panicked.  Then I smiled, shaking my head.  Not for long.  It was unbelievable. I realized it could be an issue of age.  Not funny.  I knew too many instances of folk my age, even some years or so younger, losing their way driving, who were eventually retrieved and returned to loved ones by the authorities.  Loss of drivers license came soon after.

“Well, no one will know my dilemma, I thought.  I won’t even call my brother, just 25 miles away, back in Ohio where I had been visiting.  He could easily come straighten this out.  No, the experience would be my wake-up call. ”   I could find my way to Mercer, Pa. and the entrance to Route 80.

Turning around, backtracking to the major intersection, I made a left turn, and then at the next stoplight, made another left turn and calmly proceeded.  A few retail stores looked familiar, a church seemed to be where it should be on my way to Mercer.  There was hope.  Finally a sign told me 17 miles to Mercer.  Whew!  I was heading in the right direction.  Softly, though, I admitted, if, I had been on the path I took every other time I made that trip, I would be closer than 17 miles to Mercer.  It was clear to me, I was not where I preferred to be but decided to take the punishment and keep on toward where I should be, no matter this obviously longer route I had stumbled onto.  Another 20/25 minutes, up ahead of me was a road construction crew working at a 4-way traffic-light managed thoroughfare.  Traffic stopped for a red light, which provided excellent opportunity for me to yell to the helmeted workman, “which way to Route 80 East?”  “I don’t know,” he calmly answered.  I gave him an unemotional “thank you”, realizing he and many road crew members come from places far from where they are working…. they’re not local people.  Oh well, directly across the intersection was a Seven Eleven!   Stopping there I confirmed I was going in the right direction, only a few miles from the entrance to Route 80.  Always reaching that highway entrance ramp seems the equivalent of heading into the driveway of home, albeit more than a 300-mile driveway.  Route 80 would be under my wheels until six hours later, when my vehicle exited onto well-known streets only a few city blocks from home.  What a relief.  Mentally, I vowed no more long distance road trips without a co-pilot beside me.

How did I lose my way?  Driving by Thiel College, I let my mind wander.  Started thinking about my father; how for a long time I thought he was buried in the near-by cemetery on the hillside with a view of the campus; thinking how significant that was for my dad, such an earnest champion of higher education.  One day I casually mentioned to mother how good I felt that daddy was laid to rest close to a college campus even though we now had plots in Williamsfield Ohio’s cemetery.  Matter-of-factly, mother said, “He’s not buried there.  He’s in Jamestown’s cemetery.“ I was shocked.   Each time I think about learning that truth, I’m emotionally mesmerized. That’s how I lost my way, these many years later, driving back to New Jersey from Ohio.  Distracted thinking.

Now whenever I get behind the wheel, I consciously keep my mind fixed on where I’m going and how I’m getting there.   Well most of the time.  

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Today we celebrated my 77th birthday.  This picture of me was taken at dinner this evening.  I feel good; I am blessed.

The wake-up call driving experience I've written about here happened three months ago.  Lately I've been thinking about making that trip, one more time.

Maybe not.  What do you think?