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Andra Watkins

Not All Who Wander Are Lost

MTM says I have no sense of direction. Put me out in an unknown place, and you are liable to never see me again. So, when I needed to do a long walk in Charlotte, North Carolina, MTM was sure I could handle the Little Sugar Creek Greenway. "It follows this creek for six miles, Andra. How could you get lost?"

MTM says I have no sense of direction. Put me out in an unknown place, and you are liable to never see me again.

So, when I needed to do a long walk in Charlotte, North Carolina, MTM was sure I could handle the Little Sugar Creek Greenway.

“It follows this creek for six miles, Andra. How could you get lost?”

Well.

I’m me. That’s how.

Mile 2.4 The trail splits. One goes uphill. The other down. Both follow the creek. Neither are marked with signs. I picked uphill, then circled back to down. Down was correct. Score one point for the girl with no sense of direction.

Mile 3.2 The trail splits again. No signs. Take the bridge? Or the trail uphill? I chewed my lip and cursed the landscape architect. A jogger took the bridge, and I followed him. Correct again. Two points for me.

Mile 4.0 The trail headed into a park and split. Again. I followed the park trail for almost a mile. It dead ended. I dragged out my iPhone, hoping Siri could tell me what to do. “It’s 30 degrees. I am cold.” That’s all I could get effing Siri to tell me. I hauled ass back to the split and went the other way.

Mile 4.5 Trail is no longer marked Little Sugar Creek Greenway. Was I on the right trail?!?!? I trudged on, needing distance more than rightness.

Mile 5.2 A sign. Little Sugar Creek Greenway, with an arrow through a neighborhood. No creek in sight. Children shrieked on a playground, while I dragged out my phone. Again. And screamed, “Fuckfuckfuck!” when it was dead due to cold weather. I plowed through the silence I created by disrupting innocent play with a tantrum of profanity.

Mile 6.0 The end? Maybe? I found my way, all the way? I turned around to retrace my steps, smug in the knowledge that maybe I could follow a trail after all.

For the next week, I will be wandering off line. I will not be posting on the ACM. I have much to do to rework my site, and other than a post for John Howell, I will be focused on administrative duties. Please say you’ll miss me. I know I’ll miss you.

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80 Comments

    1. Hahaha. I will be back next Friday or Saturday. Just long enough to get things sorted. And I’ll still see you at your blog.

  2. I’m like you Andra, zero sense of direction, nice, humorous post, good luck with all of your admin 🙂

  4. Of course I’ll miss you 🙁 but I’ll cope 🙂

    1. If you post in the interim, I’ll see you there. 🙂 I’ll be back next Friday or Saturday.

  5. of course we’ll miss you and i am exactly the same when it comes to directions )

    1. I’ll see you at your place. 🙂 And here next Friday or Saturday.

  6. Please don’t get lost in your administrative duties. I will miss you.

    1. I’ll try not to. Ha. I’ll be over at your blog, and I’ll see you here next Friday or Saturday.

    1. Are you redoing the SEO on your blog? I don’t think I have the strength for that here.

      1. Not the blog, no. I dumped my old website and am rebuilding the new one on Zenfolio from scratch. Unpleasant but I think (hope) worthwhile.

  8. This also seemed appropriate, of course.
    “All that is gold does not glitter,
    Not all those who wander are lost;
    The old that is strong does not wither,
    Deep roots are not reached by the frost.
    From the ashes a fire shall be woken,
    A light from the shadows shall spring;
    …”

    1. It is. Very appropriate. I’ll still see you every day at QHR. Unless I combust, I’ll be back next Friday or Saturday.

  10. I always miss you when you are gone Andra. This is just another way we are connected, I have grown to always go the opposite direction my instincts tell me to go, because my instincts are wrong. Either that, or I rely on Sarah who has had a better sense of direction than I since she could talk in complete sentences.

    1. I follow MTM everywhere, or I’d never get anywhere. Ha. I’ll see you at your blog in the interim. I’ll be back here next Friday or Saturday.

  11. You and Nancy both. She can get lost in Charleston. Where she has lived all her life. All … xx years of her life. (I know better than to reveal how many years that is.) Wait, we did live in Atlanta for 3 years. She gets lost there too. She prided herself on finding her way up an down a straight road in Atlanta.

    And now I am in trouble. I may have a good physical sense of direction, but as for knowing when to shut up? With that I cannot find my way.

    1. I think you’ve gotten a lot better. Nancy would probably say so, too.

  12. How will I start my day? Yikes……….I’ll miss you!

    1. We could have a coffee one day next week. 🙂 And I’ll be back next Friday or Saturday.

  13. Yes of course we’ll miss you. But we also trust you’ll find your way back to us eventually.

    1. Next Friday or Saturday. (I sound like a broken record. Ha.) I always see your posts when they go up, so I’ll be sure to read them in the interim.

  15. Arrrrggggh. So frustrating!!! Glad you found your way back home. When I get lost, I get good and lost!
    You will be missed!!!

    1. I’ll see you at your blog, and I’ll only be gone from here a week. (And that doesn’t count my day for John Howell next week.)

  16. Of course you will be missed! I hate when trails aren’t marked because I feel like I could wander around for days (well, until I fell over in a faint from lack of potato chips and wine!). Enjoy your wandering time

    1. It will be wandering time, because I cannot stand technology. It makes me feel so stupid. Ha. More stupid than unmarked trails.

      I’ll see you next Friday or Saturday, and of course, I’ll be on your blog when you post.

  18. You will be missed. And I’ve been meaning to call you to hear about what is taking place in the planning…

    1. Let’s have lunch. I need to see you and hear all about that grand boy.

  19. “Indy, Henry, follow me. I know the way.” ~ Marcus Brody

    “Got lost in his own museum, eh?” ~ Professor Henry Jones

    In the meantime… what am I going to do tomorrow night?!

    [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mCSRaRMODWE]

    p.s. – You’ll be missed. 😉

    1. I’ll see you at your place, Nate. And back here at the end of next week. If this takes longer than a week, I will scream.

  20. Same here on the no sense of direction thing. 🙁
    Hope all your admin stuff works out well and I can’t wait to hear from you again. I’ll miss reading you this coming week.

    1. I read your post this morning Nancy and I have to say I was worried!

      1. Imagine how worried I was! 🙂
        All ended relatively well, and hubby has since bought a headlamp for me. It is in my pack, along with bandages. 🙂

        ps thanks for reading!

      1. You are crazy! Get your stuff done. My posts will be fewer and less wordy now that I’ve finally accepted the job offer. 🙂

    1. I will make sure to show up at your blog, Jon. You can’t get rid of me. Ha. I’ll be back next Friday or Saturday.

  22. I cannot even count the number of times this has happened to me. Seriously! I guess we’re never really lost because we’ve found our way back, but it truly is frustrating when the trails and not marked. I’m always afraid I’ll wander into someone’s private property and be shot – yes, that can happen around here. :-/ Miss you already!

    1. That can happen in SC, too.

      I’ll be back next Friday or Saturday, and I’ll be everywhere else in the meantime. You’ll see lots of me.

  23. Yahoo! Well done! You found your way without getting totally misplaced. I have the same problem, only I tend to be too stupid and bullheaded to turn back.

  24. Oh nooooo…what shall I read when I first wake up?

    1. Back stories on the ACM. Ha. I could put those up every day, but I will be making changes here and stuff, and it will be chaotic looking. I didn’t want people coming here during all that. I’ll be back next Friday or Saturday. And we need to get together for lunch when you’re in town. I want to hear about your DC trip.

    1. Back next Friday or Saturday. I hope the time flies, given what I have to do.

  26. It seems to me that you NEED a tiny little gizmo called a GPS. With one of those you have to WORK hard at getting lost. 🙂 You are going to be gone from here for a WEEK? OMG… I will be staring at my inbox wondering what the hell happened. Sigh…. I know it is probably for the good. Hurry back though. You do not want to leave us alone for too long.

    1. I have GPS on my phone, but when my phone is dead…………….

      You won’t do without me long. I’ll be back next Friday or Saturday.

    1. I’ll see you at Humoring the Goddess, Claudia. And here next Friday or Saturday.

  29. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SE22gVu6IOc

    Yup, She’s going to be on a little trip, alright. If I don’t say I’ll miss you that doesn’t mean I won’t. Besides, you’re not gone yet and it takes me a while to notice things in the winter. By the time I figure it out you’ll be back and I won’t notice because then I’ll start missing your posts right as they start appearing again.

    I think that’s how my brain works these days. I’d ask it, but it’s in the kitchen eating a Klondike bar (and the last one, too!)…

    1. Haha. I’ll still yak on your blog. My brain is frozen, too. Not a good thing when I have to handle tech things.

  31. I’ll miss you Andra, even if I get so far behind that I don’t notice you’ve gone until after you come back. I’m a little jealous, I want to work over my site, it’s one of the things I wanted to do before the year began. Perhaps soon.

  32. I will definitely miss you. Thank you for saying a nice goodbye! Unfortunately I relate all too well at the getting lost. I have so many stories…my family won’t let me forget a one of them! See you in a week. 🙂

  34. Glad you found the way. The adventure as is much fun as the walk itself! We’ll miss you. Your energy threads through cyberspace, every interchange a synapse.

  36. I’ll miss you too Andra but am excited to see what you have in the works for ACM. 🙂

  37. Enjoy your admin, Andra.
    I know I don’t visit as frequently as I used to Andra, but you can rest assured knowing that I’ll miss you.
    It’s very easy to get lost walking in straight lines – I manage it frequently! It’s all part of the fun.

  38. You’re never alone. Looking forward to walking with you in spirit.

  40. I went looking for you today, and couldn’t find you… had to scroll down to find this post (which I obviously missed — mea maxima culpa) and now I see why you’re gone. Can’t wait to see you re-launch/redesign/re-work. Definitely missing some accidental cootchie.

  41. I don’t understand how or why people look at ‘getting lost’ with bad connotations. I never get lost, I go on adventures.
    Greetings from the jungles of southeastern Nicaragua, Carlos Ovalle
    (With the briefest moment of internet access)

  42. I think the problem here is that someone has no sense of how to give directions, not that someone has no sense of direction. And the someone with the problem does not appear to be you.

    At least that’s how I would spin this one.

  43. Given how long it took for me to scroll through all your comments, I would say you will indeed be missed 🙂

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