It's time to let these things go

Isn't it weird the things that you remember, or the moments that keep coming back to you. There are a few memories that I would like to dispel from my mind, so I will describe them publicly in a series I'd like to call, Thing's I'm Letting Go.

My first year in Portland, I was walking through the city and a car pulled up to me and shouted at my sidewalk, "Hey, where is Salmon from here?". I was confused, "What?". "Salmon Street, is it North or South of here?"

Now, I was new to Portland at that time, and I knew that Salmon Street existed. It was a few streets away from my old friend Johnny's house, but that was in the SE and we were in the SW. Ah, so the streets carried across the river, I realized in that moment. I vaguely knew the difference from where I stood, which way was North and which was South, and I made a calculation in my mind. I shouted back, "It's that way!" and confidently pointed North.

His wife, in the passenger seat, gave an exasperated sigh as he grunted triumphantly and drove off in the direction of my advice.

I know now that I was way off, and it was just a few streets behind the direction I sent them. I was too timid to admit that I was new in town and had no idea what they were talking about. This scenario comes up in my mind every once in a while and I grimace a bit, because I know what I did. That woman told the driver that he had to get directions, he must have refused several times and finally, to stop her nagging, stopped and asked me. I completely validated the universal justification of why men don't ask for directions.

Oh well, it's time to not feel bad anymore. I know where SW Salmon St. is now, there's a huge fountain at the bottom of it!