There is a so-called Au Family trait (but it’s endearing!): we are all directionally-challenged and have no sense of where we are! Just take a look at my health stats for yesterday:

The first order of business was to find a T stop station, so I could purchase a Charlie Card for a 7-day pass. I started out looking for the Chiswick station, supposedly only a five-minute walk away, but when I finally found it (after backtracking several times), there was unfortunately no ticket machine to purchase anything.

I then tried to find a bigger station, Reservoir, and finally ended up asking several people for directions. I had wasted almost an hour walking in circles!

My goal today was to tour the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library. In all my many trips to Boston, I had never visited, and I was determined to try this time.

Once I found the right station to transfer to the Red Line, I was assured that there would be a free shuttle bus to the Library. Alas, how was I to know that there was more than one shuttle bus! I ended up at the UMass Student Center bookstore and ended up walking almost a mile to the JFK Library.

It was definitely a step back in time: a kinder, gentler time, especially as I watched a rerun of the Kennedy-Nixon debates. How utterly civil they were, not like today!

By the way, good thing I went yesterday and I didn’t try to go to the JFK Library today because there was a train derailment at that very station!

Another Au trait, unfortunately, is losing things on trips. I cannot tell you how many times my mother lost her camera, and once, she even lost her wedding ring! Fortunately my brother found it in her suitcase, nearly a year later!

For me, it’s losing the earbuds for my phone. I only seem to lose them on trips and it’s usually in airports or on planes that I forget them. No sooner had I arrived in Brighton at my rental apartment that I realized that I must have dropped my earbuds (along with an expensive adapter) on the floor of the plane! (Groan!)

Looking for the Apple Store on Boylston Street turned out to be another adventure in walking in circles and wasted steps. ☹️ (P.S. This was the fifth pair of ear buds I’ve bought for my iPhone since I got it a year ago last September! Egad!)

But it was the quest to find Jordan Hall where I heard the St. Matthew last night which had me really lost and resulted in wasted steps! I can just hear my husband Carl now, “And how many times have we gone to Jordan Hall! About 40 or 50 times!?!”

The concert got out about 11:15 but I got lost looking for my T stop, had to wait for the right train, and didn’t return to the apartment until 12:34 am!

I realized I had not eaten anything since having a hot dog at the JFK Presidential Library, 12 hours ago and it was now raining! Good thing I packed an umbrella!