The Importance of a Map

Have you ever tried to go somewhere without a map? Typically, we head toward new places with no less than directions....but a map can often be so much more clear; you can gauge distance and surroundings, and be far more successful in your journey.

What about going somewhere a bit more familiar? Maybe you have been there once or twice, but it has been a while. A map is far superior to memory, and a lifesaver when you come across changes such as traffic revisions, new landmarks, etc.

I am finding out that life, and in particular love, is more like a journey or road trip than I had ever realized. Love is shaping up to be the cross country car ride with your embarrassing grandparents to visit the largest ball of string and the oldest walnut tree, where you get car sick and your little brother just won't stop looking at you!


Once we have reached adulthood, usually we have been on a couple of these excursions. We have had crushes, been in love, been loved, and found heartbreak. In lucky cases, that journey turns out to be the romantic getaway to Paris with that special someone; where you enjoy the time even when the luggage gets lost and no one speaks English in the restaurant.

But when we are adults it is more and more important to have those maps. We no longer have our youth and vibrancy and stupidity to allow us to just blindly try over and over again. We have commitments and goals, and desires never thought of in our youth - and to not reach them all is devastating.

And love is that journey to somewhere familiar.....but not visited in a long time. No matter how many times you try, you know what you want, you recognize some of the signs around you, but you are never really sure of where to turn.

I have been dating someone recently in my life... and everyday I wish I had picked up a map back at the gas station. We seem to have the same idea of our destination, and when we talk the directions through they sound the same... yet I often find myself looking around at the stops and find myself alone. We get in touch, talk again, and start off on the road... only to find that somewhere we took different exits on the turnpike.

These latest stops are closer than ever to the "destination"....but it is still only me arriving there. This leaves me with two choices: wait for him and hope that he finds me while I sit scared and alone, or go on to where I want to be without him. It is like we both WANT to go to Disneyland and ride Space Mountain, but he parked in the Eeyore lot, and I have already taken the shuttle from the Timon lot and am almost to the entrance.

GET THE MAP AT THE GAS STATION!

SIT DOWN OVER COFFEE AND USE A YELLOW HIGHLIGHTER TO MARK THE PATH!

Don't just talk about the directions and where you want to go, outline the landmarks along the way.

Know that when you get to exit 72, you have gone too far.