It was about 8 o' clock on a Saturday night. The sky was dark rich blue with little dots of white and fluffs of clouds. We had just pulled up to the hotel where my friend was having her birthday party. My sister was calm and collected as usual while we unpacked the car of over night bags. On the other hand, I'm flustered and stressed about where we should put the bags on the curb and thinking about how I can find free parking. I was worried because I didn't have any money on me and parking near the hotel was $20 I asked my sister if she wanted me to go find parking or if she wanted to. She said,
"I'll go upstairs and you can go find the parking."
As I start up the car, I watch my sister open the doors to the hotel and walk in to me my friend. I slowly drive off into the street and start to look for any signs that say, "Free Parking" As I am driving down the road, I start to get frustrated because I can't find any signs. Suddenly, I pull up to stop sign that says I can only make a right turn. Without thinking or looking around me for sighs, I see myself taking the wrong exit and ending up in D.C. While I'm driving,I decide to pull out my GPS to help me at least get back to the hotel. Although I hate when people use their phones while driving, I knew that this was a necessary moment. I took out my Blackberry and watched the screen appear with the words VZ Navigator. Thankfully the address was already punched into my phone from earlier. I quickely went to "Resent searches" and then clicked the hotel's address. Right as I click the address, I look up and see the big green sign saying, "Pentagon". I finally realized that I took myself all the way to D.C. While looking at the map, I start to get confused about which street I am supposed to turn onto next. I realized that I should just take the nearest exit and try to get back to the hotel from there. Right as I get off the exit, I reach a constuction zone that has all these orange and yellow signs. Right as I start to figure out where I am, in comparison to the GPS, I see a sign that says detour. As I follow the signs, my GPS starts to get confused with the direction it is trying to take me, and it freezes.While I am still looking at my GPS and trying to unfreeze my phone, I suddenly see a bright white flash taking a picture of my car. I also hear about five car horns honking repeatidly. Right as I look up, I see that I just ran a red light. I look in my rear-view mirror to see if the light on the opposite side was also red, and of course, it was. Looking at that little red circle in my rear-view mirror is an image that I still freak out about when I visualize it in my head. Although I didn't get caught by the cops, I pull over to the curb on K Street. I turn my car off and start to panic. I knew I was going to get a ticket later on in the mail, but the real problem was that the car I was driving, wasn't my car. It was my mom's car. I call my sister and thankfully she calms me down.
"Jasmine, are you pulled over", she says in a calm voice.
"Yeah, I can't believe I just ran a red light! Mom is going to kill me!" I reply franticlly.
"Forget about mom right now, that is just going to stress you out more. I'm sure she will understand once you explain it to her." she says, continuing in an even calmer voice.
"Now look at the GPS...are you looking?"
"Yes." I said.
"Carefully figure out where you need to go and find the roads. Just calm down and you will figure it out.
"Okay, I will, I'll see you in a few. Bye."
After I heard the phone call end, I take a few deep breaths and figure out where I need to go.
After an hour or so of wandering the streets of D.C, I find my way back to the hotel. Although I found my way back safely to the hotel, I never found any free parking.
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