Tuesday, August 28, 2007

LOST IN BERKSHIRE COUNTY

It was a simple miscommunication. Can't even say misunderstanding because I understood perfectly. Thought I did, anyway: I came out of the vet's and repeated the instructions to find the Animal Inn. Bill pointed to a spot on the tourist map and said, "Oh, there." I made note of that spot.

That was yesterday when we were searching for a place to board Gabriel for the day. Today, I located the "there" on the tourist map and co-piloted toward that point. It was not long before we were both thinking that we had never been over this route before. BUT "there" was still further. And on we went. After a l o n g a time we both admitted that we were not where we wanted to be.

Turn around? Find another place for Gabriel? I didn't have his papers with me so that necessitated going back. But to where? Finally, it occurred to Bill to have me call information on my cell and get directions. We were miles out of the way. An hour, at least. But we did get Gabriel to the Animal Inn, two hours later than planned, and made arrangements to have him stay overnight so that we could finish the day without time constraints.

Back to the miscommunication: The "there" was a Walmart on the tourist map. The only Walmart on this map was not the Walmart landmark that was on the way to Animal Inn. This was a new Walmart that hadn't made it to the tourist map yet.

Neither of us was right, neither wrong. Just miscommunication. We were both able to apologize and move on. Sometimes relationships work.