Trust Issues

Sorry for the lack of posts. It's been a long strange trip. Last week it became readily apparent that I needed to drive back up to New England to help my sister with a few things & spend more time with my family in general. It's been a good trip, more or less, that enabled me to spend some time with my college friends watching the Eagles game (sigh) & playing Wii. But I digress...

I got a TomTom (GPS) for Christmas. It's been a great traveling companion. Not so much because I need GPS -- Lord no, I have an uncanny, almost supernatural sense of direction -- but because it's been great helping me track the details like ETA, miles, how far to the exit. Getting to a major divide and having this nice British lady say, "In 2 miles, stay right" is just really helpful when you're traveling in heavy traffic on the Jersey Turnpike. So, in many and various ways the TomTom has been complete and utter Awesome Sauce...

Until, that is, she failed me...

For those who have not experienced GPS devices, the thing I learned very quickly is that they often plan routes differently than you would. To get the full value from the device, you must decide to follow (or not follow) it's directions. Once you start listening, you may find yourself on a stretch of road you've never been on. You may find yourself at the mercy of some strange British woman. I call her JaneJane...

As I approached the George Washington Bridge into NY, Jane showed me an alternative to the bridge. Route 9 to Palisades Ave. I went with her. It really worked. Jane had saved me minutes & it was a nice little shortcut. It was a reminder to me to trust her. Jane would never steer me wrong...

As I crossed the bridge, I did everything she said even when my instincts began to question her.

"Stay Left"

"But Jane, that's the lane that exits to the Hudson Parkway. 95 is the right lane." I've done this hundreds of times.

"Stay Left"

"Jane, if I don't get over now, I'm going to be on the streets of Manhattan."

"Stay Left"

"Jane you ignorant slut!"

Jane fell silent. Jane's screen began to do that recalculating thing. I, as I suspected, was getting off onto the Henry Hudson Parkway.

"At the end of the ramp, turn left."

"Jane, you're back! What do I do?"

"Turn around as soon as possible!"

"You have failed me for the last time!" In my best Darth Vader voice.

Lost - Ahem - is not something I experience outside of video games. If I've seen something once, I know it. It's like the good Lord took all my abilities to remember names, phone numbers, dates in history away & used it all on this weird visual memory. It's great, except that my crappy memory for all those other things sucks so much. I can't even remember street names. It's just this odd feeling of knowing a place and where it leads me. In 36 years, the only thing that has ever kept me from remembering how to get back to something has been modern construction. My family tells stories about people asking me for directions at the age of 6.

So, here I was on the Hudson Parkway and I remembered the time, 11 years ago, that Slick & I got a ride out of Manhattan with some of MrsMetsFan's friends after seeing Rent with the college gang. We had been on that road & I knew were it would get me.

"Jane, try to keep up."

The Hudson Parkway goes to the Sawmill to the Cross County. Jane starts to come around to my plan. Once I hit the Cross County, I was on a road I had been many times & knew that it would become the Hutchinson & eventually the Merritt. By the time she started 'helping' me, I was already in my element.

So, listen to your GPS, trust your GPS, but trust yourself too.

A wise man once told me that life is made better through the art of story-telling. A bad situation can make for good stories.