Genna's sense of direction

I met my wife, Genna, on a blind date, and I soon found out that her best excuse for her sense of direction would have been blindness. 

Our first date didn't go that well.  At the time, I was an undergrad at Rutgers in New Brunswick, NJ, working near full time hours to pay for my full time schooling.  The date was for a Saturday, the busiest day at the Sears shoe department on Route 1.  I was tired, cranky, and sorry I said 'yes' to her good mutual friend about the date.  Well, when I picked her up, I saw that she was (and still is) gorgeous.  In fact, she still has a friend who, to this day, calls her, truthfully, 'gorgeous'.

That didn't stop me from being a total boor the whole evening. From the wise cracks, unknowingly taking her to dinner at the same place she had lunch earlier, to the unsuccessful liberties I attempted before dropping her off past curfew at the dorm (curfew was still a big thing in those days, and I had to sweet talk the dateless girl on the other side of the locked door), I was not very nice to her.

The next day, the better side of my Gemini nature compelled me to call Genna and apologize.  To this day, I don't know why she took my call, but she did, and now we're together 42 years later.  Anyway, I told her back then I wanted to make it up to her, to show her I really was a gentleman, and also to unmortify our mutual friend whose idea it was to meet in the first place.  I told Genna I had two tickets to "Romeo and Juliet" then the hit date movie of the day playing at the Paris Theatre in New York City.  I also told her I had made reservations at Vesuvio, a great Italian restaurant in the late 1960's..

Genna said yes.  I found out later that she said yes because I had mentioned Vesuvio, a favorite restaurant of her family, and her father knew the Maitre 'D.  So unknowingly, I was back in Genna's good graces, and so far in  her father's, whom I hadn't even met yet!  Thank you, Vesuvio,  in restaurant heaven!

Genna didn't have to give me directions to her house, just the address.  Once she gave me that, I was familiar with the neighborhood, having grown up two towns away, but definitely on the other side of the tracks. When I arrived to pick her up, I thought, definitely other side.  After some small talk meeting her mother (her father wasn't home yet), we were out the door and into my car.  Genna said, " Make a left out of the driveway," which was the opposite way that I thought.  We went several blocks, "turn right, turn left," along the way, until we came to a dead end.  Lost in her own neighborhood!

I thought to myself, she doesn't get out of the house much.  Four or five blocks from her house, and she's LOST!!  Genna looked at me sheepishly and seemed to blush the thought "If you forget this, I'll forget the other night."

I was able to back track, and go the way we should have.  The dinner and show were terrific, and we hit it off from then on.  However, after 42 years, she still gets lost.  Its better now with her GPS, but I still get "Where am I?" calls when she is out, and I'm at home.

I've tried to find an explanation why she always gets lost, and I can only come up with a theory.  One time she told me her parents, when she was a toddler, would put her in the car and drive around the block, to help her fall asleep.  To this day, she gets very sleepy in the car. and closes her eyes quite often.  I was always awake in the car as a kid, taking in landmarks, and developing a sense of direction from a young age.  She was asleep most of the time in the car, as a youngster, and as an adult, since I do most of the driving.  

I've always been able to find her, because, of course, I never want to lose her.