Prank From The Other Side

Dear Paper Girlfriend,

It was the day of my dad’s memorial.  I was on my way to pick up my daughter at the train station in downtown San Diego.  I knew where the train station was located, but set up my phone ahead of time so that I could click on the navigation if I had any problems.  Part way through my drive, I decided to use the navigation.

Downtown San Diego has many one way streets.  Also at this time, there was quite a bit  of construction near the train station.  Although I knew where I needed to go, the navigation was not taking me in the correct direction.  I followed it for a while, then ignored it, and then turned it off and used my own judgement.  I was not successful.

I turned the navigation back on and followed it dutifully, even though I knew I was going away from the train station.  I was intent on listening and trying to make sense of where I was being directed when I heard “You have reached your destination.” What? I knew I had not!  I looked away from the road and to the side to see what buildings I had arrived at via navigation.  To my shock, followed by a feeling of humor, like a prank had been played on me, I had arrived at the restaurant that my parents and family had owned for years in Little Italy.  Across the street from the restaurant were the cottages my parents had owned for over 50 years.

My dad had a sense of humor.  The above experience was fitting to his character.  This is not the only prank he pulled off from the other side.  Just ask my sister and brother-in-law about the “lost” remote control to their TV! It happened right after my dad passed and then recently.  They found it a couple of days later, on my dad’s birthday!  Another story for another post.

*Epilogue to this story.  The morning after I wrote this I followed my usual routine of turning on the stove to make coffee.  As soon as I turned on the burner, my kitchen sink faucet turned on!  This has never happened and is 100% unexplainable by physical means.