Neverlost

I had only been back 5 days. I hadn't driven in 3 years, and I'd avoided it since I was back. We'd moved down to Madison, and though I knew our address very well, and I'd looked at it in google maps even while still in Africa, I was lost. I had gone where many people looking for direction go -I'd gone to church. I didn't know what to wear anymore, and couldn't find anything but my Ghana dresses, so I wore those. With a hair scarf and beaded necklace and all because I felt more at home that way. I'd struggled to park in the parking lot, having to make 5 attempts to pull into a spot correctly. I had been late because I had forgotten how to do 'American-time', and I'd struggled to find my way with memories of where the Unitarian Universalist Church was.

It was on my way back that I realized I didn't know how to get home. I started driving slower and slower, looking for landmarks, business signs, street names that seemed familiar. I'd only been this way a couple times, and then as a passenger. I didn't have a cell phone to call for help, or much idea of who I'd call if I did.

I felt so lost in America, in Madison, this place that had once been my home, that I'd dreamed of for so many long, lonely African nights. I could remember an 5-way intersection down a left turn, so I kept looking left, driving slowly.

A few days later, I bought an Android Galaxy S phone. It has built-in GPS with Google maps. I can speak a destination, and it'll give me spoken directions back, customized for car, bike or foot. I can see a satellite photo of my route, or a street view, or a listing of all coffee shops on the way, which links to their websites.

I haven't bought an updated Madison map. Or a Wisconsin map. I haven't bought the super-sticky post it notes I like for holding my map-quest jotted notes to the steering wheel. In this brave new digital world, we are neverlost.