I'VE NEVER DONE THIS BEFORE!

Yesterday, I went to New Orleans for a routine follow-up visit to the ophthalmologist after my cataract surgery. The good news is my eyes are fine approaching two years after.

The boring news is that I got lost going to the doctor's office. I took the wrong exit off I-10 and ended up hopelessly lost. I had to call the office to get directions. It was one of those situations where you can see the building, but you can't find the service road to get you there.

When I reached the parking lot, there were no parking places. I drove round and round, and nothing. By that time, I had to make an emergency visit to the ladies facilities, so I parked in a spot with red lines, ran into the building which (TBTG!) has a ladies on the ground floor, and raced back to my car. (TMI, I know!) Finally, finally after more circling, I found a spot. Of course, I was late, but no one seemed to mind.

On the way home, I did something I've never done before. I ran a railroad crossing gate. Wait! There was no train! I waited and waited, and cars were going around me weaving their way through the gates, so I inched up and looked and saw no train, so I ran the gates. Far down the road, I could see back to the tracks, and no train ever passed.

I do not recommend that anyone follow my example, but I didn't know what to do. Now I know. Call 911, and someone will (One hopes!) contact whatever authority to fix the problem. Sometimes I act in ways that scare me, that seem reckless, and that was one of those times. What came before, getting lost, no parking place, needing to use the loo badly, badly, all of the frustrations of the day, probably made me irritable and contributed to my poor judgement.