All the way in the back...

I ran into a fellow military spouse at the Commissary a few weeks ago.

Shocking I know...you NEVER run into military people at the Commissary...

We literally stood in the salad dressing aisle for nearly an hour...talking.

We look a lot alike...our kids are similar in 'illness disposition'....she's going to school to get her RN. 

We just hit it off.

She invited me to a Veteran's Day BBQ in her neighborhood.

I've been back and forth...

One...most Active Duty members have an 'eyeroll' mentality when it comes to National Guard.  Not all of them...just a lot that I have run into.

Two...I knew one person going, and I barely knew her.

Three...I knew one person going, and I barely knew her.

So I decided...What the hell?  If they were all crazy, then we would just leave.  If they were nice, Kiddo and I would have an evening out.

I made three dozen pepperoni rolls...

Dressed Kiddo in some layers since it was chilly as sin this evening.

We headed over.

The base is about twenty minutes from where I live.

I had the address...the GPS loaded it right up.

When I get to where the GPS gives you the little checkered flag...I was at ...NOTHING.

Middle of the road...literally.

Crap.

Turn around.

Circle back through the housing.

No streets with that name...I reload the address.

Back to the checkered flag in the middle of the road.

Shit.

I have three dozen pepperoni rolls to share.  I have a kid that is totally expecting a fun block party.

SHIT.

I drive to the main gate. 

Thankfully...this being a Holiday Weekend...there was no traffic.

So I ask the Gate Guard...where is this street?!

He looks at me funny as I explain I do not live on Base...I've never been to the house...my GPS was taking me to the middle of the road...

He gets out his map...and has me pull to the side.

And I wait.

And I consider offering him some pepperoni rolls...

And I wait some more...pretty sure he was running my license plate, or my ID...or whatever...

He finally comes back and explains since it is brand new housing...it won't show up...so I have to 'go all the way to the back of the new housing to the circle'.

I nod...and desperately try to look like I know what the hell he is talking about.  
Because I don't.

I go to the Commissary and the PX...sometimes Clothing and Sales...but I have only been in the housing area twice...and not this section...ever.

Shit.

He permits me a U-turn...and away I go...desperately trying to figure out where I am going...and kicking myself for no longer being overly OCD about directions and phone numbers.  I didn't have her number...only her Facebook...which apparently she doesn't check very often...

And we drive...and we drive...

Kiddo starts lamenting that we are lost and will never go home again...

I bribe him with a pepperoni roll.

He chews as I nod and duck and read signs...and keep driving.

Guess what...it WAS literally all the way in the back...at the end of the road...in a circle...with barricades and everything...and NOWHERE close to where the GPS kept putting me.

Haha!

We were warmly welcomed and had a great time.

Kiddo had a blast...and rode a tricycle up and down and up and down and up and down and up and down and up and down the street all evening.

We have a tricycle...he never rides it.