Unfiltered Story #330477

I wasn’t ever raised with the specific edict to “respect your elders” (just to respect people in general) but I managed to internalize some of the idea anyway. Until one particular day, when I finally learned that simply being older doesn’t automatically make another person wiser.

I was twenty, and an assistant coach for a high school track and field team. Several athletes had qualified for the state championships, in a city five hours away by car. The head coach and two of the other assistants went with the team in a school bus, and the last assistant–a woman in her forties–and I made plans for me to drive her and her four-year-old son, since we had to work the day the team was leaving (competition started the following day).

Based on the event schedule and allowing time for rest stops, I told the other coach I’d come to her home at seven in the morning and we’d get everything loaded and leave at 7:30. That part went fine, but once they were in the car, the other coach told me she knew a back way to get to interstate that would bypass traffic.

I should have politely told her that I was going to stick with the directions I had, and that the traffic report hadn’t included any unusual blockages or slowdowns. I really should have turned back once she started voicing doubt in where exactly we were. Instead, I “respected my elder” and followed her directions.

For 90 meandering minutes.

We got lost pretty quickly, and in an era before smartphones, it was really hard to find our way back. Finally, I saw a sign for the freeway, hopped on, and–

From the back seat, her son piped up, “Mommy, I need to go potty.”

She turned to him. “Can you hold it for a little while, sweetie?”

That’s when the switch flipped. I shook my head and headed for the upcoming freeway exit. “He might be able to hold it for a few minutes, but I really doubt he can hold it for five hours.”

He found relief in the restroom of a nearby store, and we were finally able to make real progress. By the time we got to the meet, a few events had already come and gone. Conveniently, they were events in her specialty, and the head coach was able to fill in for her. My athletes, fortunately, had events later in the evening and on the following day.