by Dorothy Markulis
Hudson Hub-Times reporter
My husband has finally discovered a woman he listens to -- and actually obeys without question.
She's the lady with all the answers: the voice in his global positioning system -- his favorite new toy.
"Turn right in 15 feet," she states in her no-nonsense voice. He turns right.
"Make a soft left in 20 feet," she demands. He makes a soft left.
"How come you listen to her, but you never listen to me?" I ask. He just looks at me and smirks.
GPS units are fantastic. They eliminate the need for men to stop and ask directions, which, as we all know, they are reluctant to do.
As one of my male office buddies said, "Real men don't ask for directions."
My husband pats his GPS fondly and says, "This little lady totally eliminates the need for a back seat driver."
I have no idea what he's talking about, since I never sit in the back seat.
I know another reason why my hubby prefers the talking head to me. She doesn't yell when he makes a wrong turn. She just says "recalculating route" and lets him go on his merry way. No outcry, no recriminations.
Recently, we were visiting some friends at their lakeside cottage in the boondocks. We had never been there before so we had very explicit directions.
Unfortunately, unbeknownst to our friends, there was a bridge being repaired in our path, with no apparent detour.
We became hopelessly lost.
Through trial and error, and repeated cell phone calls to our friends, we finally arrived at our destination -- an hour late.
Later that night, as we were leaving, my husband turned on the GPS, punched in home, and the little lady he admires gave us perfect directions.
"Why didn't you ask your lady friend the best way to get here, instead of us floundering around for an hour?" I ask.
"I didn't know how to pro-gram this address," he said.
Real men, apparently, don't read directions either.
E-mail:
dmarkulis@recordpub.com
Phone: 330-688-0088 ext. 3143