Road Maps and Side View Mirrors

Remember road maps? Those giant pieces of paper that re-folded so neatly?
They showed the roads ahead leading from hither to yon.You could stop in any gas station and pick one up for the state you were in. All while the guy pumped your gas, checked your oil and cleaned your windshield. Nowadays you turn on your GPS and listen to your choice of annoying voices telling you to “ turn left in thirteen point six miles “ or “ Hey stupid, you missed your turn. Go back and take a right.”

When Rita and I started taking trips, she “ volunteered “ to help navigate. Since she was legally blind, I questioned the wisdom of this arrangement. Since I have an IQ of over six , I questioned silently.

The first trip in our brand new camper would be to New Brunswick, Canada.
Home to Kouchibouguac Provincial Park. So on to AAA to get a Provincial map.
Now, the lessons on how to interpret the colored lines, squiggles, and semi-visible
numbers and letters were long and hard. I am not a teacher. I am not a patient man. But I loved her, so I tried. Really hard. Really, really hard. All errors would be due to my missed turns, and misunderstanding of the difference between miles and kilometers.

Since this was before Rita got her low vision glasses, I need you to try something so you will understand what we were dealing with. Find a map. Open it all the way.
Put it on a table so that it’s standing up. Take off your glasses and stand six feet back and try to read the map. That approximates our situation holding it six inches from your nose.

Anyway, after a few trial runs, and magnifying glasses, it’s off to Canada, eh.
We hitched up our new camper and off we go. One of our favorite books was
Blue Highways which extolled the virtues of secondary roads. Interstate roads are faster, but not as much fun. After many miles on I95, we found the exit for the Blue Highway. It was a beautiful road through small towns and gorgeous scenery.
THEN CAME THE RAIN.

The next thousand miles ( okay, I exaggerate) on this road was mud. Followed by mud-filled ruts . Fortunately, the rain stopped just as we approached St.Johns.
We went to a grocery store to get food and noticed that our brand new camper was covered in mud. But we will wash it at the Rv park. No we won’t. Big sign.
“No washing of vehicles “. The campground owner took one look at our collection of mud and said,”Don’t tell me. You took the shortcut. Go wash the car and camper “. And so we did.

“What about the mirrors,” you ask. Well, here’s a life lesson we learned. Many times. The road map will give you a chance to look ahead to life’s adventures.
All the interesting places to go, and what to see on the way. The future. Rear view mirrors show where you have been. The stark reality of the past.

But, that side view mirror that says “ Objects in the mirror are closer than they appear “ gives you an opportunity to slightly distort that reality. You can smooth
the rough edges. That road was not as bad as you thought. You can laugh at forty pounds of mud on your brand new camper. You can look back at events that were
devastating at the time, and find a little humor in just about anything. Even the Ghost of Christmas Past may fade to nothingness.

I have used the side view mirror for many years. In and out of vehicles. It has helped me to deal with most of life’s curses. Accidents, illnesses, and even death.
It has allowed me to share some of our stories with you. So, when the bumps and bruises of living start to weigh on you, take a look in that side view mirror.
A different perspective just might make all the difference in the world.

—
Fred Prout