In Which I'm Horribly Late

Yesterday my friend Julia got married and I was an hour late for the wedding, missing the ceremony and much of the reception.

I felt like this:

And the truth is, I was confounded by misdirection.

I gave myself an extra half an hour, and ended up taking an extra hour and a half .

It started with construction downtown and a detour which probably added an extra ten to fifteen minutes. No worries, I still had another fifteen and Intent To Speed.

When I turned off the highway to take Indiana State Route 69 my troubles started. Mapquest sabotaged me with spurious turns, non-existant signs and incorrect hints. I back-tracked quite a few times, once incorrectly. With twenty minutes to go, I still thought I'd make it. Things like this often don't start exactly on time.

By the time I recognized the neighbourhood near Julia's house, I knew I was way off-track, so I attempted to turn back but instead got on the wrong highway. I didn't recognize any of the landmarks, but thought it was because I was so panicked getting there that I didn't notice them, and by the time I knew with horrible certainty that I was was utterly lost and so stopped to ask for directions, I was a twenty-five minute drive from campus and already more than a few minutes late.

By the time I finally reached USI, all I had was the invitation and this map which it turns out was just not as useful as one might hope, as the sun was down and the signs on the buildings are not lit and are positioned for the pedestrian. Panic, embarrassment and the same misguided belief that causes one to knit faster as the yarn starts looking pitifully inadequate dictated that I drive, though eventually I gave that up too.

Saturday night on campus is not very busy, and some students are better at directions than others, as it turns out.

At least the decoration on the gift was:

1. handmade
2. pretty
3. useable (it's a button)

I hope they like the gift too.

Still, I was beyond mortified. I am not someone who regards herself as unreliable or habitually late.

Julia looked beautiful and happy, was astonishingly understanding and I got to meet her family and the friends I've been hearing about for the last fifteen years, not to mention her new husband (about whom I've been hearing for less than that!)

The drive home was long and late and very dark, but with the help of an over-large bag of Chilli-Cheese Fritos (ah pregnancy, I don't miss you at all!) I made it home before it got light.