I am directionally challenged.

Anyone who has ever asked me to be the navigator as they drove, knows that although I do know my left from my right, when I say the direction, it often comes out the opposite of what it should be.

I also get lost quite easily. Apparently the map part of my brain isn’t fully wired.

And one place that’s easy to find is Trident Hospital. You go down Hwy. 78 or you get off the I-26 at 78 or drive up from Rivers Ave. It's really simple to find – big white building with lots of traffic all around it.

So, when Editor Frank Johnson and I were scheduled for a meeting at Trident recently, he asked if we could meet up ahead of time so that we could arrive at the destination in unison, I said, "Sure."

"The BP Station just down the street from the hospital? he asked.

I said, "Sure."

Simple enough. But as I came over the bridge on Hwy. 78 I got in the far right lane as if I was going to turn in at the hospital. I realized too late that I needed to go down a little further to get to the BP Station.

Still not concerned, I turned in at Trident and looped around the perimeter road that goes to all kinds of doctor's offices and on around into the back way that led to the BP Station. Frank was there waiting, so I pulled back onto the road I had just come off of and headed back out the back road. Frank followed.

Somehow we found ourselves cruising into a housing area, so I pulled over into a turn around spot and Frank pulled up next to me. I hollered out the window, "Must have missed the turn."

I pulled away and he followed. Our two-car caravan was nearly back to the BP station, so I pulled into a doctor's parking lot and turned around again. I could see the look on Frank's face which was somewhere between "What the heck is she doing?" and "I'm a newspaper editor, get me out of here."

We ended up going back out to Hwy. 78, catching the traffic light and traveling Hwy. 78 back to Trident.

Unfortunately, it was the busiest day of the year and after the first pass through the parking lot I saw that there was no parking. That's when I noticed the sign that said, "Free Valet Parking."

Sounded like a plan to me. After all, it was only about 110 degrees outside and humid enough to sweat up a cup of hot coffee.

I drove up under the covered area and a nice person came running out to announce that the valet parking on that side of the building was full and that I should go over to the Emergency Room side to be valet parked over there.

Frank pulled up behind me. I could see him chatting away the valet parking person as I moved on. (Frank said later the gentleman was very, very insistent that he use the valet parking on the ER side of the building. Frank, a right young dude, assured the guy that he wasn't in need of valet parking.)

Neither of us made it to the valet stand because we found parking as we rounded the corner to the other side of the building.

Which brings me to a couple of topics discussed at the meeting, one of which is the new helipad for the hospital. Until now, they have used the pad over at CSU, but as the years have passed and the traffic has worsened and the parking lot has started to bulge, it takes longer and longer to get everyone in place to use the CSU pad. An average time is about 25 minutes, the difference between life and death. So congrats to Trident Hospital for getting their helicopter pad.

And my goodness, it does look like they might need to do something about the parking lot, too.

Let me suggest a few “left here” and “right there” signs for the directionally challenged.

Contact Judy Watts at 873-9424 or journalscene.com

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