Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Field Trip Mom

I had a car full of elementary children. They are Montessori kids so I engaged them on directions like the good field trip mother that I am.

Me: "Alright, listen up kids. We are heading out. I need someone to be in charge of the map."

5th grade boy: "I'll do it."

Me: "Where does it say I should turn when leaving the school?"

Him: "It says for you to go right and then to turn right again."

Me: "Really? That can't be right. No pun intended. Let me see that map. Yeah, that isn't right. Why is it taking me that way? We are literally right by the road that will lead us to the road we need to be on to get to our destination. Okay, yeah, we aren't going this way. Okay, kids, we are going to take the scenic route."

Him: "You're not going to follow the map?"

Me: "Nah. It's more fun to take the scenic route. Sit back, buckle up, look out the window, and enjoy."

Off I went. I had to study the map app as I drove, still perplexed that it had wanted to take me in a different direction than the one I was sure was correct. As I got closer to where I thought the road that I wanted was to meet up with the road on the map I begin to second guess myself.

I spent several minutes stressing as I continued driving. Eventually, I conceded that the app may have been correct after all. I decided to do a U-turn and backtrack a bit to match the map.

Him: "What are you doing now?"

Me: "I'm thinking that I need to head back this way for a bit."

Him: "So much for the scenic route."

2 comments:

Sue G said...

Gee does this remind me of a trip around Evansville many years ago when we went to the movie. I had no idea where I was but Dad said "Cara can get you there & back" No problem with the there BUT after the show - we roamed the streets what seemed like 30-40 minutes trying to find a street that looked familiar to get us back home. Amazing that the schools don't ask for recommendations for drivers taking kids on field trips! HA!

cmkerwin said...

Yeah, well, if you hadn't taken me to that bar after the movie I might have gotten us home just fine!