That Time I Wasn’t Lost

Early on in our relationship, my wife and I lived in an apartment in Pittsburgh. I worked downtown and our place was only about six miles from the heart of the city. We both grew up in small towns in Western PA, and while Pittsburgh isn’t the biggest big city, it’s certainly more crowded than our hometowns. If you have ever driven around the Steel City, you are well aware of the highly confusing and convoluted road system (or lack thereof), caused by the geography. While the confluence of the Allegheny and Monongahela Rivers which creates the Ohio, and the beautiful, wooded hills surrounding the three rivers, were an important and strategic location to build military forts and eventually a city hundreds of years ago, this land is not well suited for modern vehicular infrastructure.

With this backdrop, I bring you the story of the fight that almost ended our marriage before we even said, “I do.” Back in the day, when we still had to physically drive to a brick-and-mortar store to rent a movie, I was heading out on a Blockbuster run. We had just moved to our apartment and had been engaged for about a year. While I knew how to get in and out of the city (to and from my office), I was still not all that familiar with the area. These were also the days before GPS was common, and we didn’t yet own a Garmin, let alone have smartphones to light our paths. I knew the Blockbuster I was looking for was on a major…