Direction Dyslexic

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Hubby is the first person to discover me being a direction dyslexic. It must be during our courtship days. Usually we decide upon a place to meet and I was the first one to arrive, always (though Hubby thinks otherwise). Once he comes he will ask where I'm and I tell him. He just couldn't find me and I have trouble giving him directions. It would have definitely annoyed him but he never showed it. After many such debacles he might have sensed something is wrong. Otherwise seemingly intelligent (coyly I say) girlfriend's this ridiculous behaviour is unacceptable for him.

You wouldn't believe I can get lost in a new house from going one room to another. In Airports I'm terrified to use the loo for the same reason. I panic in the hotel hallways because I don't know if to turn left or right. If a loved one is admitted to the hospital, I worry for their well-being alright. I dread to visit them alone. Not because I am fragile or can't handle the emotional strain. I get lost finding the room, straying off between cafeteria, ICU, and different departments. If a friend or family asks me to come out and take them inside an auditorium for performance, I literally start to hyperventilate. I think I have said it before I don't like malls but for their multiplexes. Malls are big and have different levels, exits and imagine my plight. In pubs if the restrooms are in the same level I'm saved. Sometimes they will be in different levels. surprisingly when I'm high I find my way pretty easily without agitation. I have realized I just can't find my way if it's not my regular route.

I remember getting lost once in my hometown when I was a kid. Somehow I managed to reach home safely after much delay. My overprotective grandmother almost had a heart attack, but I never told her about being lost. Because I knew she would never send me alone anywhere. If I can remember that was my first encounter with directions. I can't differentiate north from south or east from west.

When I hear GPS chick saying head north or go east I feel like laughing my ass off. Thankfully it is always somebody else driving. Yes, you guessed it right. I don't know how to drive. How on earth anybody can think a person like me can drive? I secretly thinks it runs in my family. My younger brother has the same problem, but he manages to drive good. Whenever someone asks us to direct them to our house we cackle holding our tummies. I know it is crazy, but we understand each other better that way.

The wife-bragging hubby of mine now goes to the extent of saying "my wife is the smartest one, you can trust her whatever she says, but for the direction; she is direction dyslexic". It may not be life altering but being direction dyslexic dampens my spirit in a larger away. Probably it is time to overcome this condition and make friends with maps, compass, GPS, all and sundry.

J.R.R. Tolkien never had the opportunity to meet a person like me otherwise he wouldn't have quoted "Not all those who wander are lost".