So yesterday I met with a friend downtown for coffee and the day started out just like any other day downtown with the exception of the crazy construction happening within the area which caused me to be tardy. The day would have almost been perfect---except for the fact that I thought my car was stolen!
Can anyone relate to this or is this just me? When you find yourself in a situation when you are completely out of your element (for me this would be venturing downtown) and you lose all sense of direction and focus? I parked my car in a parking garage before meeting with my friend. I had some sense of where it was parked but not completely. As a result, and the end of the day as I ventured back to where I thought I parked, I realized my car was gone!
There were 4 other parking garages within the same 20 block radius where I was, and I knew my car had to be parked in at least ONE of them! I think I spent at least 2 hours looking for my car. Finally I sat down on the curb, took some time to sort my thoughts, calmed myself down, said a quick prayer, and just waited. A man walks by and asks me "what's the matter?" I told him of my dilemma and I gave him an ambiguous description of where my car might be. He told me he knew exactly where it was. I walked with him---thinking to myself, this is crazy that I'm allowing a complete stranger to lead me to where my car is and also being led to an empty car garage at that! However, I felt that somehow I would be protected and this man would do me no harm.
I had my keys in hand, and I do have a button on my key for an alarm and pressed down on it as we walked up each level of the garage. I heard a loud honking noise and saw flashing lights and by golly yes...IT WAS MY CAR! I was so thrilled and happy to be reunited with my vehicle again. The man was--for me anyway--an angel in disguise.
I said "thank you" and he disappeared around the corner. Yes, it was a moronic situation to forget where you parked your car. I could have kept my parking receipt in my wallet rather than in the dashboard of the vehicle. I could have wrote down what cross streets were nearby before leaving to venture downtown. I could have done a lot of things. However, somehow this weird awkward experience happened to me yesterday and I am now sharing it with all of you. A nerdy awkward girl who gets into embarrassing situations more often than she would care to admit.
