March 31: GPS

Driving home from Portland tonight, watching the GPS screen (I wasn't doing the driving!), it occurred to me that when you only focus on the screen, all you get are a network of lines that don't even show all the little side roads. What you don't see: the house where someone I know lives, that great restaurant we stop at sometimes, osprey nests, several fields featuring flocks of turkeys, where my grandmother's trailer used to be (now a car detailing shop), the turn-off to a good farm stand in the summer, big bare oak tree on a hillside, a trailhead to a good hike, one of Paul's favorite fishing spots, more homes of people we know, the pond where some buffleheads are still hanging out, a wetland where we heard peepers, a view of the moon, Venus, and Jupiter...

The way home reduced
to a single orange line
across a black screen.