LOST

Ever gotten lost before? I definitely have! It’s probably my most common mistake. I can’t even draw maps, like the map of the United States, let alone navigate around them. In fact, I get lost so much that Google Maps could never fix it. I’ve gotten lost a lot when I was a kid, to the point I realized I’m no good with directions. It took me a while to figure that out, but I knew by the time I was 9 years old. I could never forget how bad it was to be lost in the middle of nowhere during the summer in Arizona. I learned to always be prepared for situations like these, and to never trust myself with directions.

So to start off, I was nine years old, and I lived in Phoenix, Arizona at the time. I was in 4th grade, and it was some time in June, just before summer break was about to start. I was in a foster home, so life was a little different for me then. I was Diabetic too, and still am. Every day when school ended, I would ride a bus that would leave promptly after 2, and would go to the YMCA, and drop me and some other people off. Well, I was usually the last person on the bus.

I chose to stay over for five minutes to review some things in my Spanish class. I figured I would make it in time for the bus. I came out five minutes later and found out that all the buses had left. I was so distraught and had no idea what to do. I just started living in my foster home, so I didn’t know the phone number, so I could not do anything there. I decided that I could walk to the YMCA, thinking it was not that far away and that I knew the directions. That was my first mistake.

It was a very hot day in Arizona, and I had no idea I was lost yet. I also did not have any food in case my blood glucose dropped, so I was stuck. I finally figured out that I was lost. I stressed out, I could not turn around, since I did not know the way back to school. I was in a really tough spot.  Four random strangers offered me a ride, but I was way too scared to get a ride from someone I did not know, so I refused all of them. I checked my blood glucose and it was low. Now I was ultra stuck. At that point, I sat down and started crying. I was lost and stressed out. Sometime later someone called the police, and I got a ride back to the school. That was my first time in a police car. My foster parents came and picked me up, brought me home, and scolded me.

From that experience, I learned to never trust my sense of direction, always be prepared,  and be on time. It was a very scary moment for me, and I’ve learned from it. I also learned to remember contact information in case of emergency. I know to never try to find your way to your destination without knowing where it is first. It was a very valuable lesson for me.