Wife Vs. GPS
This is one man who's happy to ask for directions. But should he trust his wife… or his new GPS?
I've pretty much always been aware that I possess a decidedly errant sense of direction. Since I was 6 years old, I knew I would never make it as a captain on the open seas. My internal compass broke on a Tuesday night ride home in a classmate's car, just seven minutes and three turns from my house in Fairfield, Connecticut. A new carpool driver made the unfortunate choice to ask me to navigate from the way back of his cream-colored station wagon.
"Take Buena Vista," I told him immediately. Buena Vista is not the name of a single roadway in Fairfield; I believe it's a resort in Disney World.
Forty-five minutes later, we turned into my driveway, my reputation as directionless forever sealed.
And so in early September, I sat in the cramped rental, paralyzed by the disagreement between my top two navigational advisors. Eventually I did what any man would do; I stopped taking directions and started acting on pure frustration. I popped the car into reverse and began trying to retrace the roads that led us onto the bike path. As my wife offered suggestions and the GPS unit chirped "recalculating" ad nauseam, I made an extended series of wrong turns. Nine round-a-bouts later we arrived at our hotel, three and a half hours after the estimated arrival time.
Technology can drive a beeping, attention-sucking wedge between men and women. In a recent survey from Energizer, 30 percent of all married men couldn't decide if they would rather give up their wives or their smartphones, and a shocking 15 percent said they'd drop the spouse. Thankfully, I still love my wife more than any machine. While she can be wrong, at least she has the capacity to rethink things—and apologize. Whereas when the GPS fails, you end up wondering how much a broken axle will cost to replace in the middle of Denmark. Female Vs Male Brain: Is There A Difference?
Still, 9 out of 10 people you speak to will tell you they're happy to use a Garmin or similar product. How many of those would trust their wives for directions? I shudder to speculate.
I, for one, will keep asking for help. Last weekend I was out walking my dog in the neighborhood when a Chevy Cutlass kept pace, setting both of us on edge.
The car window pulled down and the elderly driver yelled out, "I'm looking for a house on 72nd Terrace."
"Sure, it's right behind you, just take your next left," I told the woman, glad that I recognized the street.
She drove off, and I suddenly realized, No, she needed to take a right, not a left. I shook my head slightly. If she's not married, she really should get a GPS.
Discussion
My boyfriend has a great sense of the cardinal directions--he can always tell what direction he's heading. When he gives me directions he'll say, "when you come to this intersection go North" and I'll have to remind him that I have no idea which direction is North, so could he please just tell me right or left.
Okay I am the one with no sense of direction. But with all my misadventures I get to know places very quickly. My husband is a pilot and has a compass for a brain. Often, my boots on the ground experience (I KNOW THIS ROAD DOESN'T GO THROUGH) clashes with his internal compass (WE NEED TO GO NORTH!). Often I think our marriage would be better with a Garmin, but the DH told me the other day he loves the challenge of getting himself unlost, and me? Well, I just learn to leave early and if he's driving, I make sure I pack a book. Getting unlost is boring sometimes.
LOL...thank god I live on an island. My sense of direction is great, but lets face it, if you get lost on an island then you find your way out by either driving to the mountains or the ocean...its a no brainer!
I'll take my GF any day over tech...she has hands and she knows how to use them!
