Mistaken Deja Vu?

Hard to imagine that I'm using french words to describe something that happened to me today in California. Sometimes I know a word in french that I don't know in English. Rucher is one of them. I have to fumble to think of the word apiary.

Today I experienced what I think could be called mistaken deja vu. I felt I'd been there before and I was incorrect. Can this happen?

My sister and I were driving to our cousin's house this afternoon. I had her address and had been to her house once before (isn't this deja vu?). Even though I have no sense of direction, my mental GPS got us to the right street but we couldn't find the address. I really felt that we were in the right place, that I'd been there before, which, if I'd been correct, would have been true.

Up and down the street we went. We were enjoying ourselves, the neighborhood is very nice and we were a little early so we drove around for awhile, looking for her special front door. I knew we were close.

After several trips up and down the street not finding the house, we decided to call to get directions. It turned out were on the right street but across a canyon from her house. So, we weren't even close. With the directions and my sister's expert navigation skills, we made our correction and pulled up in front of her house five minutes later.

When I saw the front door, and my cousin's smiling face, I knew immediately that I had experienced mistaken deja vu in the other neighborhood.

When was I there before, if ever, I'll never know. Perhaps I'd gotten lost in that neighborhood before.