Joan Prefontaine

Astray

My husband and I have spent a good portion of our time together lost—not only on highways and interstates, heading in the wrong direction, but also on many back roads and ordinary city streets, taking one misguided turn after another. We argue over who is more directionally challenged, and if one of us is correct about the way we should proceed in unfamiliar territory, the other (wrong) one always sounds more convincing. Even with navigation systems to help when driving, we find ourselves off course, ordered by a woman’s cool, unflappable voice to take shortcuts that end abruptly in a cloud of dust or were never there to begin with. Still, we keep traveling and having adventures together, since we are slowly realizing that arriving somewhere, anywhere, can never be our chief motivator. Part of being in a long-term relationship, it seems, is to learn to lead the other one astray.

no use
in searching for it
the road home