People tell stories. Long after the lived experience, we talk about how somebody fell off the wagon, got dragged through the mud, beat out the competition, crossed the country and probably would have stayed there, were it not for the telegram.
OMG. We must have been separated at birth. I “wandered” one day many years ago, trying to get my bearings using the “sun trick” but alas it was a cloudy day. I finally figured it out but not without quite an unscheduled tour of some back roads. 🙄
Good story, and you have company! Paul has an uncanny sense of direction - he teases me when we walk out of a hotel room and asks, “do you know which way the elevator is?” - invariably, I pick the wrong way.
Oh, the teasing! You may have gathered, by reading between the lines, that I never laughed quite as much as the others when my special story was told and retold. :sigh: Fist bumps, Susan.
I, too, am directionally challenged. If my husband asks me which way to turn, he automatically goes in the direction opposite to the one I said. I like to think that I do have other gifts.
Other gifts, indeed! I very nearly wrote something about my redeeming qualities. Let's call them other forms of intelligence, shall we? Thanks for commenting, Suzanne.
I am laughing out loud……when exiting any elevator Bill always just goes the opposite direction from my choice, knowing full well that I am going the wrong way! Works every time………I think it is because he is the hunter and needs to go far and get back with dinner…as the “gatherer” I just might always feel closer to home……..
ATTAGIRL!!! Is right...and your brother Don has an uncanny ability to always know where he is on a bike, but that doesn't necessarily translate to knowing where he is in a car. Just saying...and getting off an elevator is ALWAYS discombobulating. How can you tell? When you exit which way is which??? Almost like being on a rollercoaster! Thanks for sharing, and you may be wandering, but I know for one you are never lost!
When it comes to senses of direction, our mom set the bar very high. It took me a while to figure out that there are other ways of getting from point A to point B. Hah! Thanks, Carolyn.
I've improved my ability to have in-the-moment enjoyment, Barry. There has been a lot of angst and frustration along the way, but I could blame that on deadlines. If I didn't need to operate on a timeline, I'd be happy to take in the scenery for hours at a time!
Nov 16, 2022·edited Nov 16, 2022Liked by Elizabeth Beggins
I am one of those ppl who is almost never lost. My sense of where I am or am going is 100% connected to my east / west or north / south bearings. (And I hate it when my iPhone in maps isn’t oriented north, rather than direction I’m going. Lol!). It’s so ingrained I almost can’t conceive of what it must be like to not hv this sense (which my son also evidenced at age 2.5!). My “almost” is NYC & the subway. When I come up to the street from riding the subway, I’m completely disoriented. I now use a compass on my phone to know which way to go! I’m so glad you’ve made friends w your inner wanderer! I might almost always know where I’m going, but I’ve also always found that the most magical things happen when you wander!
Resounding YES to the magic of wandering! I envy your precision. My mom had it, too, which might be another reason I spent so many years feeling disappointed by my lack of aptitude. No more! Embrace the scenic route, I say!
If only that tactic worked so well for "the rest of us." Now I'm trying to figure out if the sun can actually be a landmark. :) Thanks for commenting, Rob.
My dad would quip, "You have to pass both parts of the Lost and Found Test. First you have to get lost then you can get found. Both are equally important." That or...he'd fly into a stinkin' rage that ruined the whole trip. The Test option offered so many more possibilities he eventually chose it every time and then sailed into the sunset. Guess heading for the sun worked for him, too.
I've been lost, and I've been found: I think your dad would approve of my process! And, when you put it that way, I think heading for the sun seems like great advice. Thanks for commenting, my friend. <3
We must surely be related, Elizabeth - this is extraordinary!
I am lost all of the time. I don't get the direction of the sun thing. I mean, I TRY.... but no, I don't know. I know that our bedroom window faces south - the view is of the north side of the South Downs in south-east UK, so I KNOW that that way's south. But ONLY when I'm at home. As for where south is when I'm anywhere else - pfffffff - can't do it. Nope.
I'm very, very good with left and right. Faultless. And straight on is fine. 😉 But finding my way around on a day-to-day basis - well, I'm absolutely hopeless. Very often I'm 90° out - but not consistently - so I might be 90° out this way OR that way.
One of the routes that Jim and I very often take for work leads us past a pub in the middle of nowhere. It's become a bit of a thing where Jim asks me every time 'Which side of the road is the pub on again?' And I always tell him which side... and it doesn't matter whether we're outbound or on our return trip, I am ALWAYS wrong. And I don't even remember for the NEXT time!
Hopeless, I tell you. Hopeless! Just as an aside - I've never been INTO that pub - but I know that if I do, it will be like every single other pub I have ever been into... in that I WILL get lost on my way back from the Ladies to the bar..... 🤣
We need to reframe, somehow. Hopeless leaves little room for...oh, I don't know...the miracle of discovery? The idea that the drifting plankton are every bit as important as the organized ants? We're going places we would never have gone otherwise! Adventurers, unite! :)
OMG. We must have been separated at birth. I “wandered” one day many years ago, trying to get my bearings using the “sun trick” but alas it was a cloudy day. I finally figured it out but not without quite an unscheduled tour of some back roads. 🙄
Not a very good trick, is it? Heh. Really glad you found your way back! Thanks for the comment, Janet. :)
Good story, and you have company! Paul has an uncanny sense of direction - he teases me when we walk out of a hotel room and asks, “do you know which way the elevator is?” - invariably, I pick the wrong way.
Oh, the teasing! You may have gathered, by reading between the lines, that I never laughed quite as much as the others when my special story was told and retold. :sigh: Fist bumps, Susan.
My husband and I are exactly the same, Susan! 🤣
I, too, am directionally challenged. If my husband asks me which way to turn, he automatically goes in the direction opposite to the one I said. I like to think that I do have other gifts.
Other gifts, indeed! I very nearly wrote something about my redeeming qualities. Let's call them other forms of intelligence, shall we? Thanks for commenting, Suzanne.
I am laughing out loud……when exiting any elevator Bill always just goes the opposite direction from my choice, knowing full well that I am going the wrong way! Works every time………I think it is because he is the hunter and needs to go far and get back with dinner…as the “gatherer” I just might always feel closer to home……..
Very reassuring to know I am in such good company. I like that hunter/gatherer way of thinking! Appreciate the comment, Susan.
ATTAGIRL!!! Is right...and your brother Don has an uncanny ability to always know where he is on a bike, but that doesn't necessarily translate to knowing where he is in a car. Just saying...and getting off an elevator is ALWAYS discombobulating. How can you tell? When you exit which way is which??? Almost like being on a rollercoaster! Thanks for sharing, and you may be wandering, but I know for one you are never lost!
When it comes to senses of direction, our mom set the bar very high. It took me a while to figure out that there are other ways of getting from point A to point B. Hah! Thanks, Carolyn.
You are anything but functionally defective. This is so great. I, too, am part of the directionally challenged sisterhood.
The sisterhood of the... "where the heck am I?" :D Thanks for reading, Courtney.
Wonderful.... so true and so funny for all of us, or at least some of us... I still bet even when you're lost, you're enjoying the moment..
"A truly happy person is one who can enjoy the scenery on a detour."
Gregory Benford,
I've improved my ability to have in-the-moment enjoyment, Barry. There has been a lot of angst and frustration along the way, but I could blame that on deadlines. If I didn't need to operate on a timeline, I'd be happy to take in the scenery for hours at a time!
Oh yes, I am a member of that tribe. Have wandered to and fro, but thats okay, I always find my way home.
Home has a way of drawing us back. Thanks for reading and commenting, Mary. And, good to know we're in the same club!
I am one of those ppl who is almost never lost. My sense of where I am or am going is 100% connected to my east / west or north / south bearings. (And I hate it when my iPhone in maps isn’t oriented north, rather than direction I’m going. Lol!). It’s so ingrained I almost can’t conceive of what it must be like to not hv this sense (which my son also evidenced at age 2.5!). My “almost” is NYC & the subway. When I come up to the street from riding the subway, I’m completely disoriented. I now use a compass on my phone to know which way to go! I’m so glad you’ve made friends w your inner wanderer! I might almost always know where I’m going, but I’ve also always found that the most magical things happen when you wander!
Resounding YES to the magic of wandering! I envy your precision. My mom had it, too, which might be another reason I spent so many years feeling disappointed by my lack of aptitude. No more! Embrace the scenic route, I say!
You had me at “The sun…” I laughed til I choked. Like your mother, I use that landmark so often people smirk.
If only that tactic worked so well for "the rest of us." Now I'm trying to figure out if the sun can actually be a landmark. :) Thanks for commenting, Rob.
My dad would quip, "You have to pass both parts of the Lost and Found Test. First you have to get lost then you can get found. Both are equally important." That or...he'd fly into a stinkin' rage that ruined the whole trip. The Test option offered so many more possibilities he eventually chose it every time and then sailed into the sunset. Guess heading for the sun worked for him, too.
I've been lost, and I've been found: I think your dad would approve of my process! And, when you put it that way, I think heading for the sun seems like great advice. Thanks for commenting, my friend. <3
We must surely be related, Elizabeth - this is extraordinary!
I am lost all of the time. I don't get the direction of the sun thing. I mean, I TRY.... but no, I don't know. I know that our bedroom window faces south - the view is of the north side of the South Downs in south-east UK, so I KNOW that that way's south. But ONLY when I'm at home. As for where south is when I'm anywhere else - pfffffff - can't do it. Nope.
I'm very, very good with left and right. Faultless. And straight on is fine. 😉 But finding my way around on a day-to-day basis - well, I'm absolutely hopeless. Very often I'm 90° out - but not consistently - so I might be 90° out this way OR that way.
One of the routes that Jim and I very often take for work leads us past a pub in the middle of nowhere. It's become a bit of a thing where Jim asks me every time 'Which side of the road is the pub on again?' And I always tell him which side... and it doesn't matter whether we're outbound or on our return trip, I am ALWAYS wrong. And I don't even remember for the NEXT time!
Hopeless, I tell you. Hopeless! Just as an aside - I've never been INTO that pub - but I know that if I do, it will be like every single other pub I have ever been into... in that I WILL get lost on my way back from the Ladies to the bar..... 🤣
We need to reframe, somehow. Hopeless leaves little room for...oh, I don't know...the miracle of discovery? The idea that the drifting plankton are every bit as important as the organized ants? We're going places we would never have gone otherwise! Adventurers, unite! :)
You're so right: hopeless is harsh, right? What a gorgeous line about the drifting plankton - I shall remember that.
Yay to adventuring - in whichever direction we end up going!