This is the time of year when you see graduation parties everywhere. Well, what you really see are lots of cars parked all around a lot of houses everywhere. Some streets are lined with cars on both sides. The only way you know where the party is being held is to find a big sign in the yard with a picture of the graduate. Those big signs in the yards are a new thing from when we graduated from high school back in the ‘50s.
Anyway, when George and I set out to find the party we had been invited to, we had good directions with us. But, there was one little problem at one of the “roundabouts,” which caused us to get lost. You can drive a lot of miles and never find any place that looks safe to go up to their porch and ask for directions. We saw a few people outside, but you don’t go to just anyone. But, eventually, when we had passed the same fire station twice, we decided that maybe we could go there and ask for directions. So we did.
Parking in the parking lot was okay, but going in the front door was a little scary. When two of the firemen came and opened the front door (after we hit the buzzers out front), I immediately said, “We’re lost.”
They seemed very nice, so we told them our story about how we ended up there, and they took time to search something and started telling us which directions to take, and how many turns to make. (I am lost when it comes to so many turns and corners, so I watched my husband to see how he was understanding all of it.)
As we were just about to walk back to our car, one of the firemen said, “Follow us, we will drive the fire truck and escort you there!” Unbelievable! I couldn’t believe my ears. I have never known of such a nice thing happening.
In the few seconds that it took for a couple of them to get in their truck, and us get back in our car, we were on our way out the driveway through roads we hadn’t been on. We couldn’t help but be in shock as to what we were doing.
Finally, we saw a road sign that we had been looking for. We followed down the road and saw them stop in the middle of the street where there was a big sign in the yard with the picture of the graduate we had come there to see. So we stopped and watched as they proceeded on down the street. Since it was a dead end street, we waited for them to come back on their way out, and they stopped and we waved and thanked them royally.
When we got inside the house, one of the other guests said, “What was that fire truck doing out front?” When we told them we had been escorted there by the fire truck, I don’t know whether they believed us or not.
Getting to our destination was only half the problem. We were so happy to get to spend time with the new graduate, it never occurred to us that we didn’t know how to get back to the familiar roads that would take us home. But luckily, we found a road we had in our instructions, so took off happily for home.
No further help necessary. It’s a good thing that we found that road, because we never did see another fire station between there and home. (I always did feel that those “roundabouts” could cause some trouble.)
Kay E. Conklin is a retired Delaware County recorder who served four terms. She graduated from Ohio Wesleyan University with a degree in sociology and anthropology.
