The Third Person in Our Van

When we started on this trip, there were two of us in our van. Somewhere along the way, we realized that Laurie, a third person, had joined us. Laurie is the name the TomTom company had given to one of the voices of our GPS. 

Initially, we thought we were simply taking along a GPS. We didn't know we had invited someone named Laurie to join us. But, as the miles have passed, we developed a close relationship with each other, often having conversations about the way we should go and what we should do next.

Laurie was generally polite, but she had definite opinions about the roads we should take along the way. Over time, we came to depend on her for direction. Her presence was a comfort to us. Whenever we found ourselves in a tense situation, Laurie would speak up in her firm, polite voice, offering her thoughts about the way we should go.

However, while Laurie was often right, sometimes she was downright confusing. Her directions didn't always agree with the reality in front of us. Then we found ourselves talking with her, disagreeing with her advice, and asking for a second opinion.

That's when we found out that Laurie could be pretty unreasonable. It was either "her way or the highway." If we didn't do what she said, she would continue to repeat "Turn around when possible" for miles, until we finally had to turn her off.

Or, Laurie's directions could be complicated and unclear. "Exit right ahead" might refer not to the next exit but to one that was 2 miles away. We learned that "Stay in the left lane" did not mean the stay in left lane but get out of the right lane.

Sometime things would get tense in our relationship with Laurie. We'd have a disagreement about the way to go or would not understand what she wanted us to do. Then, she would go strangely silent for miles, deciding that perhaps we all needed some space and an opportunity to cool off. 

We could only speculate about the reasons for Laurie's silence because she never offered an explanation. Maybe it was some kind of technological time-out, where we had to sit silently in a virtual corner. Maybe she was just overwhelmed and needed some personal time to sort things out. Whatever the reason, we always knew that eventually she'd show up again, talking to us as if nothing had ever happened.

There was a point that things got so strained between us that we brought in another GPS, the Google maps in our iPhone. We never learned the name of the voice in this system, but she was often more accurate and generally more pleasant and forgiving.

But, using two GPS systems at the same time was very hard on us. They didn't always agree on the road to take. Then, we'd have to choose between them, which often led to a lot of discussion (and, we admit, sometimes shouting) among the four of us. But, you need to understand. Things can get pretty tense when you're approaching a decision point on a six-lane highway full of traffic and your two GPS advisors are disagreeing about what to do next.

Often in those cases, Bas would reach down into the space next to him and pull out the only thing that would quiet the discussion--a map. Of course, by that time the exit had passed, leaving the two GPS systems to squabble about whose fault it was and argue about what to do now.

At one point, we thought that a change of "person" might be helpful, so we switched to "Richard." He seemed more precise, and he enunciated very clearly, which we liked. But he also seemed more bossy, placing an unusual emphasis on the word "next" in his directions. Richard's voice had a touch of arrogance and, we felt that his voice displayed a need to show that he was in control. That left a bad taste in our mouths. We found ourselves missing Laurie's more gentle spirit and the sense that she was our friend, not our superior. So, we decided that she should return. 

As we approach the end of our trip, we realize that our relationship with Laurie is about to change. We haven't told her that the end of the trip is approaching because we're afraid she might take it pretty hard and decide to go away to sulk.

And, we admit that we may miss Laurie's voice as well. We've counted on her to be there when decisions needed to be made. While she is not infallible, she has always been worth listening to. And, she's been there in the good times and in the difficult times. 

We have many good memories of the time we've shared together--this third person in our van. And, we'll always remember Laurie's words to us when we have disregarded her advice: "Turn around when possible."