the time i almost got kidnapped

So approximately 3 years ago, just before I met Will, I'd been dating this guy. He was far from notable, but I was pretty torn up about the whole break up. Combine that with my usual insanity, not wanting to enter the "real world" from college, and having no clue what I was going to do with my life, and I was just about over the deep end. I really didn't know what to do to make myself feel better, and was having a really hard time sleeping at night.

After one sleepless night, I just couldn't take it. I threw on some sweats, hopped in the car, and drove to this great park by my apartment. It had a beautiful view of a little airport and I think you could even see the river.nI planned to go there and meditate. Take a walk. Jog a little. Clear my mind and figure out where and how and when I was going to "start the rest of my life".

It was going to play out like a movie or really good book, then I would go home and my life would begin. Except when I actually got to the park, I just sat there. I waited for the epiphany. I waited to get the motivation to run, and even walked around a little. It never came. What did come was a couple in a white SUV. Just a few years older than me, with 2 bikes strapped to the top. I was insanely jealous. I was sure they were this happy, yuppy, madly in love couple who had probably woken up at 5am to exercise before they started the perfect day together. I just knew the girl would be clothed head to toe in lululemon and have a Starbucks in her hand. But when she got out of the car, this chick was carrying a bottle of wine.

I have never been so shocked to see a bottle of wine in all my life. Before I know it, I'm up and walking down the path. "Get away from these crazy people" I thought. "Who the hell drinks a bottle of wine on a Wednesday morning in a park? At 5am no less. THIS IS NOT PART OF MY PLAN". To make matter worse, this path I started down led straight into the woods. And of course these morons followed me and struck up a conversation.

Did I want a glass of wine? What was I doing in the woods? Had I been back there before? Did I know all of their cats were buried there? Did I want to see where? Did I want to go to the pool with them later? No really, they really wanted me to see their cat graves. Yes, they knew it was illegal to bury cats in the park, but it seemed like the right thing to do you know? This went on for about 30 minutes. And somehow we ended up deeper and deeper in the woods, off of any legitimate trail.

This chick was insanely creepy, and started asking more and more personal questions. I'm pretty sure she offered me drugs, it's a bit of a blur. I still can't remember how I ended up getting out of that conversation, but I'm pretty sure I just got up and started running to my car. Then proceeded to drive around town a bit to make sure I wasn't being followed.

The point of this story isn't to show how weird (or stupid) I am. I think about it often because it reminds me of one of life's greatest lessons. People are not always what you think. The grass is not always greener. Instead of pretending to be the chick from "Eat Pray Love" with the park as my India, or being  jealous of others and what they appear to be or have, I should have been learning how to be happy and fulfilled with all of the blessings I was taking for granted.

Eventually, I got there, and have been living happily ever after. I hope the girl in the park never finds this post...