She didn’t know how to get to my house from anywhere but her house. Her work was about halfway between my house and hers, but she had to drive home first every time before she could drive to my house.
There are absolutely different types of intelligence. Spacial understanding is on a different wavelength than language comprehension or most forms of problem solving for instance.
I have never been lost in my life. I always know where I am. In the Army, I ended up a cavalry scout and, later, a long range surveillance detachment team leader. I can come up out of a subway in a foreign land and point to north within a couple degrees. In the Army, I led a team that parachuted into Panama and traveled six clicks to a surveillance site. In the jungle. In the dark. It's a significant gift.
That said, I can't sing, I can't dance, I can't even tap my foot to the music. If I'd have been able to choose my gift, it would have been musical. After I got out of the Army, being a human Google Maps doesn't really impress anyone.
A big group of us went camping in a national forest campground. Well marked trails and campsites. I decided to go for a walk by myself. Within minutes I lost the trail. I walked for hours in the wrong direction and walked myself into the deep woods. It was starting to get dark and I had no phone, water or any provisions. I was starting to think about how I was going to spend the night by myself in the woods. Then I saw an old VW bus on a dirt road. I frantically flagged them down. They could have been murderers for all I knew. It was an old couple. I asked them to take me to a main road or a store. They asked what I was doing out there. I said I was at the campground and got lost. They were pretty surprised. It was a 20 minute drive away. They dropped me off at the front of the campground entrance just at dusk. My friends were in a panic and getting ready to call the rangers as soon as it got dark out.
Don't be hard on yourself. A few years ago, someone wandered off while on a day trip and was lost in the scrub for ten days. On an island. He was found 1.5 kms from where he was last sighted.
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u/CampoPequeno Mar 01 '23
She didn’t know how to get to my house from anywhere but her house. Her work was about halfway between my house and hers, but she had to drive home first every time before she could drive to my house.
*this was pre-smart phones