Yesterday I took the scenic drive home from the hardware store. I saw 2 couples looking lost, two women and two men, seniors. They were dressed nattily in impeccable white shorts and hats. They had moored their sailboat at Port Washington and walked up to visit friends. I stopped to ask if I could help.
After walking back and forth along the road for half an hour they were utterly lost, not knowing the address nor the name of the owner of the cottage they were looking for. This was because the hosts who had invited them were themselves being loaned the cottage.
We studied a map. They knocked on several doors and gates. I stopped a passing hiker to ask for help. No one could help.
At last at a nearby house someone phoned the postman whose wife recognized the host name, looked up the owner’s name and could track down the address.
Oh the joy and relief when they piled into my little red Toyota and I delivered them to the garden party where they were expected.
I smiled all the way home at the irony. The lead lost man had a lifetime career as a naval sea captain, doubtless skilled at steering his crew into hard-to-find bays and inlets on a vast ocean. Yet his party got completely lost within 70 metres of the shoreline.
He didn’t imagine that morning what an adventure he would have.
I hadn’t expected to meet 4 new interesting (lost) people while doing errands.
What an adventure this life is! Each new person I meet opens a window on a yet-to-be-explored new world.
And those worlds make as exciting discoveries as visiting new physical places. Our grandkids reminded me of that with how thrilled they were to explore Medicine Beach (pictured here) this summer for the first time – a place I had lost the wonder of but now see with new eyes.
Dorothy Siebert Author & Editor 