10/17/2011

Down the Road, Up the Creek

Story Sent in by Daniel:

Back in the dark ages before GPS, Shelly and I were planning our second date when she told me, "I know a great dinner place that also has an arcade." As we were both into arcades, I went for it. I offered to pick her up at her house, and once she was in my car, off we went.

"It's in Larsondale," she said, "So jump onto route 11."

I did. We were on the road for about 20 minutes longer than I thought we would be when she asked, "Are we in Larsondale, yet?"

I replied, "We have to be. You don't remember the rest of the directions?"

"I do. Turn around up here."

I turned around and drove back down the road. "Okay, where to now?"

She said, "I'm sorry, I have the worst sense of direction in the world. Turn here."

"Which way?"

"What?"

"It's an intersection. Left or right?" A car behind us honked as I slowed down.

"Left," she said, and I turned left. "No!" she corrected herself, "What am I talking about? Right! Right! Right!"

I had already made my left turn, so I found a driveway, turned around, and headed back in the other direction. She said, "Sorry about this. I think I know where we are. Sort of."

We drove on for a ways, then she said, "Pull over. I don't recognize any of this."

I pulled over and let her think. I asked, "Have you been to this place before?"

She said, "Yes, but never while I was driving. I thought I knew how to get there. Tell you what, let's start back to my house. I think I know another way to make it there."

I turned around and we headed back towards her place. Not long into the ride, she said, "Oh! That's it! That's the turn! I remember it now! It was like, a really long way down that road."

"That road is a dead end."

"Then it's the next road! Turn right down there."

I did. We drove along for about another twenty minutes. During that time, I turned this way and that, in accordance with her directions, and soon enough we were very lost.

"I don't even know how to make it back to my house from here," she confessed, then groaned. It was already about an hour into the date, and we simply couldn't seem to make it somewhere 10 minutes away.

I suggested, "So what? Let's find somewhere else. We'll discover something new."

She said, "Let's do it."

We continued on, deciding to keep going until we found a place to eat. I also had to find a gas station rather soon. I pulled out of a residential area, went down the road about a half-mile, and then Shelly said, "Oh my God!"

There, on the right, was the place for which we had been looking. "That's it!" she said, "Oh my God! We found it!"

I put my turn signal on, but she said, "I kind of liked your idea of finding someplace new. Let's come back here some other time."

"Are you sure?" I joked, "We'll probably never find it again."

We found someplace new, and we've since been married for 15 years. Of course, it almost didn't happen because she was nearly an hour late to our own wedding due to bad directions.

6 comments:

  1. You finally find it and she likes your idea of finding someplace better? If that was me, date over....and I'd be happily unmarried.

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  2. I like this one. It's a bit different, well written, and a much-needed reminder that a bad date can sometimes lead to a good relationship.

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  3. Coming from a Daniel who is about to marry a Shelley (who is horrible with directions), I love this!

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  4. I thought this was going to be one of those dates where she starts to get annoyed at OP for "getting" them lost even though it was her fault.

    I'd forgotten that OPs can be reasonable occasionally...

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  5. * Er, not OP. I meant OP's dates.

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  6. This happened early on in my relationship with my girlfriend. The difference? She had a GPS and still got us lost. It was adorable and we've been together happily for quite a while now.

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