Tom and I belong to a group called the Wine Enthusiasts.  Once a month we go to a different Oregon winery to taste Wine.  Last Saturday we were at Christopher Bridge Winery, only 11 miles from home.  Our group of 22 enthusiastically talked, tasted wine and snacked until it was 4pm and time to go home.

Tom, Mr. “I’ve got a map in my head” was driving.  Things started out normally and we were approaching the freeway on-ramp that I and any other normal person would have taken as it leads directly back to our house.    However, Tom declared that he hates taking freeways and will show me the back way.  I yawn thinking “Not the back way again.  That’s how Target got lost.”   We crossed the freeway and turned onto the back way…then suddenly Tom yelled “What?? as he saw the NO OUTLET sign.   “No problem.   We’ll just go back and get on the freeway.”

I’m alert now, excited that he erred and has to take the route home that less than one minute ago he scoffed at with disdain.  As we cross back over the freeway he sees that we’re two lanes over from the exit we need.     I’m more alert, even beginning to enjoy this.  Again he said “No problem.  I’ll just turn around at the next light.”  But there’s no next light for several miles.  In fact, the next light is very near the turnoff we took to get to the winery.  We finally reach the next light and instead of doing a U-turn, he turned left as he regained confidence that he knew where we were.  He reassured me that this was a scenic route back and we would be home in no time.

We approached a hamlet called Beaver Creek and kept on going.Tom wanted to turn left but at every left turn there was a no outlet sign atop the signpost.  He was intent on turning left.  At last he found a left turn that he could take.  Again, he said with confidence “We’ll come to that bridge near the restaurant we ate lunch at last summer.”

Several miles pass, each one curvy.  And no bridge in sight.

We turn around and he takes another road that he says is going to get us back home.  We keep driving, Tom says we’re headed West.  It’s cloudy,  no sun to give us a direction.  “The car says we’re going East” I say.  “Well, the car would be wrong” says Tom.  We drive some more.  “Now the car says we’re going SE” I say.  “That can’t possibly be right, I feel it in my bones that we’re going West” he says.  Just then the clouds part and the sun pops out.  The sun is behind us in the opposite direction we’re going and even I know that the sun rises in the East and sets in the West.  “We’re going East” I say, “Look the sun is behind us.”  Remember when you were pregnant and in labor and your husband is looking at the monitor and tells you you’re having a contraction?  Well this must be the man version of this.

Now he’s in a real bind.  He cannot fathom how we can be going the exact opposite direction from home.  Finally he gives up and consults google maps on his phone.  It showed that he needs to turn right but he’s convinced he needs to turn left.  He studies the phone, muttering all the while, something to the effect of “How did I get so turned around?”  Reluctantly, he turned right and began following the directions given by the phone.

Soon we arrive at another right.  It’s the same road we turned left off some 25 minutes ago.  He is SO not happy.  Funny, but I feel great.

We passed a farm with a really cute little donkey in the pen,  the same donkey we passed from the other direction. Then we passed the Hamlet of Beaver Creek.  In the back of my mind I think I’ve seen this before and sure enough, we’re back at the same winery we left about 40 minutes ago.   “We’re back at the winery!” I say.  “Yes, I see that” says Tom.

Jaw tightening, Tom looks at me and says sarcastically “you’re really enjoying this aren’t you.”  Now I’m laughing because I’m not only enjoying it, I’m loving it!  We passed the donkey twice, Beaver Creek 3 times, and the winery 3 times.  The 20 minute trip took an hour and 40 minutes.  Who wouldn’t enjoy that?  Especially after my experience not being able to find my way out of a parking garage, where he was so impatient and not appreciating my mighty efforts to find the exit.   All in all, a perfect day.

I’m sure you’ve had a Karma experience in your own life.  Tell me about it!