Log in Subscribe
Sense of Direction

A trip to the country

June Donohue
Posted 5/20/22

It was sort of a spur of the moment decision, prompted by an ad I spotted in the Sullivan County Democrat - Mother’s Day Brunch at Tennanah Lake Golf and Tennis Club from 9AM-3PM.

There …

This item is available in full to subscribers.

Please log in to continue

Log in
Sense of Direction

A trip to the country

Posted

It was sort of a spur of the moment decision, prompted by an ad I spotted in the Sullivan County Democrat - Mother’s Day Brunch at Tennanah Lake Golf and Tennis Club from 9AM-3PM.

There were many reasons not to go to my country home in Callicoon Center yet. The main reason was that my oil tanks were almost completely empty, and I knew to get them filled at this time would be very expensive. I was hoping that by the time I’d go up there it would be warm enough that I wouldn’t need heat and the price of oil might be cheaper when the cold weather hit.

Another reason was that my son, Michael who would be driving me, was very busy and couldn’t spare much time off from work.

However, when I presented the idea to Mike, he was more than happy to go because he loves Callicoon Center. We decided if we went to bed early with blankets piled on top of us and also hooked up a few space heaters for short periods of time, we would survive. As it turned out, we hit some very warm days and spent a lot of time outside on the deck and he did a lot of yard work.

Mike decided we should get to the brunch at two, while I decided that one would be better but he won that choice. We left River Edge on Sunday and drove straight to the brunch. We relied on the GPS to get us there. BIG mistake. Somehow the woman on the GPS got very confused and kept directing us to the wrong country roads and at times would say, “You have reached your destination,” when in truth we’d be at the side of a dirt road with not a building in sight, but only a grove of trees.

We had to call the restaurant for directions. Whoever answered the phone said we weren’t the first ones that had happened to and that it was a good thing we called because we were traveling even further away from where we wanted to be. We arrived about 10 or 15 minutes late but there was plenty of good food and drink left over.

We left on Tuesday night to return home and I carefully made sure I had clothes and food and other things such as my cell phone and charger stowed away in the car before we left. Yet somehow when I got home, I couldn’t find my cell phone. How could that be? I checked my pocketbook a number of times to no avail.

A friend who would be returning to NYC from Callicoon Center offered to go in the house and get my phone and drop it off to me on his way to the city. Michael wanted to know if he should drive back up there to get it. “ Goodness, no!” I’m sure I can survive without a cell phone until the next time we go to the country.

A few days later I was searching in my purse for something else and Lo and Behold there was my phone. How could I have missed it? So my brain wasn’t scattered enough not to take my phone when we were leaving, but yet it was scattered enough to miss finding it when I searched my purse so many times. Can you imagine how I would have felt if I agreed to let my friend go into the house to search for it and it wasn’t there or if I had agreed to allow Michael to ride the 100 miles up there and back to get it when it wasn’t even there? The joys of seniorhood!

Comments

No comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here