that global ...

... positioning device a friend gave me several years ago seems to not be so remarkably accurate. I know they need to be updated periodically, to guide wayfaring travelers to their destinations. Upon receiving the gift, I did not understand that to be true. Thinking the world 'as we know it' is fairly well-known. Believing most places are fairly stable, well explored and charted by centuries of cartographers (or now: google-earth) for getting us where we want to be.

I have gradually, grudgingly come to accept that things continue to evolve: even in places we consider familiar, something unexpected can pop up and throw your navigational skills for a loop. Though my GPS device was programmed, and provided with the most up-to-date maps available (back in 2012) there are streets, buildings, possibly even towns newly incorporated that did not exist those few years ago. It is a difficult thing to confess, as my family continues to incrementally push, pull, and prod me into learning new skills and mastering technology, but it is apparently time to get that 'thing' on your cell phone that can figure out where you are, and how to help you get to where you want to be.

I was driving in what was a familiar area of town, the place where I have lived for many years, and discovered a new street. There are many thoroughfares in this place I have yet to travel, parts of the town I have never seen, but this one was right here. In my vicinity, less than two miles from my house. A great, wide, four lane road, with grassy median filled with landscape plantings: oak trees, crape myrtles, ornamental grasses, all well maintained. Huh? How long must I have had my head in the sand to not notice all the big yellow equipment and paving machines necessary to build a street with all that infrastructure: bridges, drainage, underground power supply, sidewalks, curbing, miles of asphalt.

This grand new discovery connects two roads I have traveled innumerable times in the years of residence, so I am doubly surprised to find something so nearby, conveniently located: both new and foreign to me. Hard to believe I was doing such a poor job of paying attention - when I think of myself as aware, cognizant of my surroundings, especially attentive to what is going on in my neighborhood, after a burglary/home invasion a couple of years ago. But that construction crew who likely took years to complete the project slipped that one right by me!