Me and the Black Box

The streets were crowded.  Both sides filled with concrete structures.  Signs screamed for my attention with bright colors.  It was hard to stay focused on my driving with so much going on.  Then the black box hanging on my windshield refocused me on the task at hand.  It spoke in that familiar feminine voice, "Left turn in one quarter mile onto Wheeler Ave".  I glanced to the map on the screen and noticed that Wheeler Ave would be my next left and I moved into the left lane.  Sitting in the turn lane, waiting for the light to change, it hit me.  

I was completely lost.  I was nearly in the center of six lanes of traffic with cars rushing on all sides of me.  Lighted signs and cement buildings were piled along the road obscuring the view of Wheeler Ave.  

This shouldn't have been a new feeling to me.  I've been lost before.  I believe most of us have been.  As you travel through a place you haven't been before you carefully make each turn.  You may have even asked for directions in the past (if you're a female).  This time was different.  The feeling I had sitting at that red light was different.  

I was alone.  I felt out of place. 

The radio was off and the heater quietly pushed warm air against my skin.  I looked back at the map in the windshield and realized that at that moment I had put all of my trust in the black box.  I had made several turns since entering the city and I was now blindly following the GPS directions.  If I would have turned off the car and gotten out, I would have had no idea which way to start walking to get home.  It was the most bizarre feeling to me and it caused me to laugh.  Here, I was going to turn left onto this unknown street that I could barely see through the chaos, because the computer told me to.  

When the light turned green I made my turn and left those feelings in the intersection.  Within minutes I had arrived at my destination thanks to the box hanging on the windshield.  I took it down and held it in my hand before getting out of the car.  This companion had made a moment that felt impossible when alone, possible.