I woke up at 5:37 this morning (a Saturday!!) in a sweaty panic. I don’t know exactly where I was in my nightmare, but I know that I lost my car. I guess this was a flashback to 2016, when my friend G. and I went to San Francisco to eat at Pompei’s Grotto and I parked on a nondescript side street to avoid paying the $20/hour parking fees in the touristy areas. After we left the restaurant, I completely forgot where my car was. Like, I had zero idea and G. didn’t either. We started walking toward the general direction we thought it was, but there are a lot of streets in that part of San Francisco that look kind of similar once you get out of the touristy area. We walked and walked, up and down streets, and eventually ended up near Coit Tower. The neighborhoods around there were so beautiful, and we even came across a “hidden” staircase that I fell in love with, being a person who loves little secret passageways and mazes. G. was not amused. I also should mention that I was in marathon-running shape at the time, and walking for several hours didn’t tire me at all. G. was a good sport about it, but she was exhausted and I think ready to kill me. It was getting really dark by the time we found the hidden staircase and we started to discuss our next steps. Should we call a friend? Hire a taxi to drive us around until we spotted my bright red car? We decided to try one more trek, away from Coit tower and down another street. Luckily, this worked and we made it to the car, G. ready to fall over and me with stars in my eyes from another night of falling in love with San Francisco and the low-key adventure that is always my life.

So today, dear friends, your writing prompt is as follows: Write about a time when you lost your car, bike, skateboard, Segway, whatever is your normal form of transportation.