I Woke Up Pointing

Before GPS was invented, there were human navigators who sat in the front passenger seat shouting directions guiding the driver.  These helpful people were known as spouses, significant others, or (questionably) friends.

My husband and I do not have GPS.  Therefore, I am still the navigator.  Norm does not read maps, due to dyslexia.  He does have an uncanny ability to remember landmarks, whereas I do not.  But if we have never been somewhere before, I am the designated map and sign reader and navigator.  "Just tell me where to go," he says.  And you better believe I do.

And here is where I apologize to my daughter for all those car trips where her father and I raised our voices with each other. Okay, we argued.  Right there in the front seat, in front of God and everyone who wasn't already flipping us off or honking their horns as we momentarily drove the wrong way in traffic and had to jump the curbed median to change lanes (I am not making this up).  I have learned over the years that telling a dyslexic driver "left" and "right" needs to be accompanied by the appropriate hand gestures.

So I've been doing a lot of the driving lately (go figure), which is fine but it leaves me to both navigate and drive in unfamiliar territory, and that's not always easy.  Now I really do need that GPS.

But my point is (pun intended) that I woke myself up from a vivid dream this morning, right arm and index finger extended, pointing to "THAT LANE!"  The lane Norm needed to be in, in my dream, the far right lane that was exiting at that very moment, and for Pete's sake, what about "Just stay in the right lane" did he not understand?

Hmm...do you think this dream might have anything to do with the Paper Piece Quilt-Along I'm starting on?  It's certainly true that I'm about to navigate some unfamiliar territory with paper piecing.  And...there are rules.  

Walter Sobchak in The Big Lebowski:  "This is not 'Nam. This is bowling. There are rules."

 
Shay at Quilting in My Pyjamas mentioned that the directions seemed to her to appear in a foreign language, and I could only laugh in agreement.  They are well written, don't get me wrong; it's just my own paper piecing mental block/dyslexia that is the issue.  Thankfully, our fearless navigator, Becky, has also posted videos (yay!), for those of us who are thus challenged.  After watching all three of them this morning, I am happy to report, it made perfect sense.  Now to just put theory into practice.

Exit lane!