Directions

When we first started putting together our wedding website, I realized that there was going to be a detour along the route to the wedding venue.  I put in a little note saying something like "Turn left onto X Ave. right after the Y building - it's the huge glass building along 11th St."  Brahm argued that this direction was not going to make sense to anyone, but I argued it would be much easier for me to follow that direction instead of just saying "Turn left onto Y Ave."  Both of us thought the other was crazy I think but we kept the landmark description on the website (the detour disappeared a few weeks before the wedding so we were able to take it out anyway).

Shortly after I was describing the conversation to my sisters and Megan said that there's a ton of evidence that men and women look at directions totally different - men rely on maps while women rely on landmarks.  Interesting!  And TOTALLY true.

I never really noticed this difference before until our disagreement about how to word the detour on the website, but now it's completely apparent.  I told Brahm I would place an order at a takeout restaurant for supper one evening so he could pick it up on his way home from work and he asked where it was.  "It's by the second Tim Horton's on 8th St" I texted.  Moments later, most likely after looking it up on a map, he replied back "Oh yeah, on the corner of 8th and Acadia."  Or, if we're going somewhere together and he's driving and I tell him I know where it is ("it's right across the street from that big brown house"), he still needs to look it up on a map to be sure.  Not that he doesn't trust my sense of direction but he has a fundamental need to see it in map form.

After living in Saskatoon for almost 10 years now, I know the city.  From house hunting pretty hardcore for a couple months in the spring, I know all the neighbourhoods and how to get to them.  I could give you map directions from memory if I thought about it really hard, but it's just so much easier to say "It's across from Superstore on 8th St." or "a block to the left of Bulk Cheese Warehouse".  Sometimes I still get disoriented when I'm driving downtown though and am not sure how to get out, so I just head towards the river.

I think this whole thing is kind of fascinating.  If you've never noticed it before, pay attention to it and you'll probably realize it's true with the people in your life too.