Maps
I am generally pretty good at spatial reasoning tasks. I can build things. I can tell you if that piece of furniture will fit up the stairs or fit in the living room. And I can fit a whole lot of stuff in a very small suitcase. But I cannot tell you the best way to get from town A to town B. Driving directions just somehow escape me. I can get where I’m going and get back home again, but deviating from the plan leaves me feeling a bit frazzled.
The Boy does not suffer from this difficulty. He builds a map in his head and zips about from one place to another with no difficulty and no pause to consult a map. It’s a handy skill. It also means that I can say things like hey, there’s a chocolate shop in Stow, do we ever go to Stow? And he’ll file it away in the back of his mind. Then the next time he happens to be driving by Stow, he’ll remember…and secure cupcakes. Astonishingly adorable cupcakes. Tasty too. If you’ve got the mental map trick, you should totally add a chocolate shop to it and swing by next time you’re in the area.
What lovely cupcakes!
I can do what your Boy can do, and my husband can do what you can do. This works very well unless we try to switch roles; then we have a 20 mile each way sidetrip, because he thinks a place was on the route from A to B, and I have a large upholstered chair stuck in a doorway.
I’m not sure about my inner map building any longer, I spend more time trying to figure out if I really am on the side of the road I’m supposed to be and cursing the other drivers for never making eye contact and increasing my frustration and confusion at roundabouts! But, mmmmmm, cupcakes!