Challenges with attending a concert

(Chapter 18 Problem Solving and Making Decisions in my book)

Last night, I had a great night because I went to see the musical group Three Dog Night. They were amazing! There were some challenges for me and it started when I was trying to find a parking space because the venue doesn't have their own parking. I usually park in a local parking garage, but last night when I arrived there, there was a sign that read, "Garage Full." I had to drive around for 20-30 minutes looking for a parking space. Luckily, I have a handicap placard because of my knee. I took a piece of scrap paper out of my vehicle and I wrote a few words such as the street that I was parked on and an address of the building right in front of my vehicle. The address on the building was in very large numbers so I couldn't miss it. For a few minutes I studied what was on this paper and then I put it in my pocketbook.

The next challenge was to figure out the correct direction that I needed to walk in to get to the venue because I wasn't quite sure where I was parked in relation to the venue. I got out of my vehicle and I started walking in the direction that I thought that I needed to go in. I was trying to take a mental note of some businesses along the way. I had only walked a short distance when I decided to ask someone if I was going in the right direction in order to find a certain street. They told me that I just had to keep walking and it would be the second street on my left. I was so happy to know that I was going the right way. When I arrived at the venue, I went to the box office and I gave them my name and they gave me my ticket.

During the intermission, I thought about where my vehicle was parked, hoping to remember some of the details later when the show was over. I might have forgotten that I had a piece of paper in my pocketbook. Sometimes for me, “out of sight, out of mind”.

After the concert, I was zippering up my coat in the lobby and I started talking to a woman about the show. We ended up walking together towards our vehicles. It was so nice to take this walk with someone rather than be alone at night. As we walked along the street where I knew my vehicle was parked, I used the button on my key fob to unlock my vehicle and the lights blinked. I saw the lights and I knew that we weren't that far from my vehicle. She walked past my vehicle and went to her vehicle a short distance up the street. I was so very thankful to have been successful with doing all of this on my own tonight. I started up my vehicle and I pressed the “home” button on my navigation system.

I know that when I was driving around looking for a parking space, I felt a little defeated and I almost decided to go home. I was worried about having to walk too far and also possibly not being able to find my vehicle after the show. Luckily it was a "fog free" night and I was able to be successful! It was held at a very small venue.

I'm pretty sure that if I didn't take a lot of pictures and videos, I would easily forget that I went to this concert. Now I can play the videos and look at the photos and relive those moments.

I have also gone to much larger venues, driven an hour, then navigated the subway into Boston. That was a bit of a challenge but when I'm not sure about something, I will have no problem asking someone for help.