I have no sense of direction.
I admit it. I was never born with an internal compass like my husband and most men possess. If you would blindfold him, take him out to the wilderness, spin him in a circle several times and set him on his way to get back home he'd show up without any problem. Me, on the other hand, would have to be rescued by a search party.
Anyone who's ever driven with me or worked with me on the fire department or ambulance knows that navigating addresses correctly is just not a skill I am blessed with. It's amusing to others and frustrating to me.
At least Iowa most country roads were more favorable, they were 1 square mile to the next and where I lived someone graciously named the roads alphabetically. As long as you knew the order it was so much easier to get to the address. Living in Wisconsin one of the first things I noticed was their true navigational addresses. They looked (in my eyes) a little like this: W2343232 S329403249 - okay, so maybe that's a little over exaggerating, but it was a lot more involved than saying my address is 1233 Pine Lake Road!
This is how it goes for me as well when a Directional Jedi tries to tell me "you go 1/2 a mile to road X, then take a right and then take Lake road to Washington Avenue until you get to....."
Do you know what I hear? "wah wha waa wah wha" - it's like the teacher taking in Charlie Brown! I just can't go there in my mind. So I just nod a lot, ask again for the address and return to my Garmin and promptly plug in the address!
I love my GPS! Never mind the fact that I still hear "recalculating" a lot, but I get there faster than relying on my own skills. I firmly believe that whoever invented it must have know me in some capacity and felt sorry for me, therefore creating this wonderful tool JUST FOR ME.
A good friend of mine would joke with me after a few road trips that my sense of "north" is always in front of me - no matter what direction I am facing.
I can even get lost in a building. I don't know why but it's one of those minor flaws in my character. Perhaps sometime in the future someone will invent and internal chip that can be implanted in my brain to make up for my lack of directional sense. I would have failed as an explorer in the days of Christopher Columbus!
Sometimes getting lost isn't the end of the world. I've enjoyed many discoveries that I would never have happened upon had I not taken a road I shouldn't have.
And that's life sometimes. Happy adventures along the way of what we intend to have all nice and neat and tidy in the road of life. Choices, redirecting and going with it. I used to get really, really frustrated about my lack of directional sense....now I just go with it and take in the adventure.
Recently I had to go meet up with a staff member in the Norther Kettle Moraine camp area. It's about 15 miles away - however, with the curving road and reduced speeds it is more like a 25 minute trip. It's like driving into a completely different world.
Thick stands of majestic pine trees towering above and so close together that it makes getting any sense of reference point impossible. Couple that with hairpin turns, constant rise and fall of the road and this girl is totally lost.
The Kettle Moraine Forrest is such an amazing and beautiful area - and it would be easy for even a seasoned navigator to get a bit turned around. This is the deep Forrest. I can only imagine how terrifying it would have been to be amongst the first settlers of the area to navigate this area. No help from Tom Tom or Garmin in those days. I have a huge respect for those that came before us and their amazing skills.
Maybe I should get a little help from my son's Boy Scout troop and take a compass course. Or maybe the kayak trip that I am planning in the Apostle Islands will help me get my bearings.
Maybe it's just the way I am wired for life...but really, I am good with taking in the view of the road less traveled (sometimes twice as I am doubling back!)....
