the one time i knew where i was

To preface this story:

I have no sense of direction.

I never know where I am or where to get to where I'm going.

I think it's a result of spending too many driving hours with my nose in a book and not looking out the window figuring out how we got to where we were going.

This problem has caused my parents and myself a lot of frustration over the years. All I have to say is I'm so grateful I always had a cell phone so I could call my parents for directions five million times before I figured out where I was exactly.

On to the story...

So Kolton and I went on a hot date one night a little bit ago.

We had gone in to Idaho Falls and because of a late movie, were heading back kind of late at night during a little snowstorm. (nothing major, but it was snowing pretty decently)

We were headed to Rexburg and because of a road closure, took a little detour. We ended up on an unfamiliar road and we were both trying to figure out where it was taking us. But we figured we would end up in Rexburg eventually (all roads lead to Rexburg, right?).

Then we passed a familiar billboard and it clicked.

"Kolton" I said, "We are headed to Ririe"

He let me know that we were definitely NOT headed to Ririe because
Ririe was that way (he even pointed with his finger in the opposite direction to get his point across).

So I nodded my head because who am I to give directions anyway?

But then we passed another landmark, I call it the green light church, and I again told Kolton, "We are headed to Ririe. This is the road to Ririe."

He again assured me that this was definitely NOT the road to Ririe and that we would see Rexburg soon.

But I was a little less trusting this time because I knew that church, but wondered if maybe this was just a roundabout way to get to Rexburg that I hadn't realized before (see the above mentioned part about the nose in the book)

Soon we are on a little more open stretch of highway and I instantly know.

We are headed to Ririe.

So I tell Kolton so.

Then I point out the cemetery where my great-grandma Johnson is buried, I show him where you can turn off the road and get to my Uncle Ron's house, I expound a little more on the green light church.

("No, seriously Kolton. That was the green light church. I know it is. It has a green light in the steeple and I remember it. There's not that many green light churches around ya know...")

But Kolton just keeps driving and assures me that we will soon see the lights of Rexburg.

So we keep driving and sure enough we do NOT see the lights of Rexburg, but instead see the sign

"Welcome to Ririe"

I cannot put into words my triumph at seeing this sign. I maybe gloated a little to Kolton because I knew where we were when he did not.

When Kolton admitted my rightness and his wrongness, we were able to move on with our journey and try to figure out how the heck we were going to get to Rexburg from here.

It didn't help that most of the road signs had been blasted with the earlier snow+wind combination and were now plastered with snow and therefore, unreadable.

So we follow a little sign that we can barely read that says "Rigby" with a nice little arrow.

Soon we are on a skinny little road, and it's snowing, and we don't know where the heck we are. 

(I'm no help at this point. There are no green light churches in the vicinity)

But we keep driving and driving and driving and when I take a sip of my water bottle Kolton gives me a warning look and says "You might want to save that..." (I got a kick out of that one. Still do every time I think of it, actually)

I think both of us were a titch nervous about this little road we were on, but we just kept driving because we didn't really know what else to do at this point.

I'll tell you what, I have never been so happy to see Rigby Automotive than I was at the moment we passed it and soon thereafter saw the rest of Rigby. And with that, we were found and Kolton successfully got us back to Rexburg.

I'm going to live on this incident for the rest of my life.