There was this thing that involved reading maps and contests and I don't remember the specifics, but I won. It was some sort of academic contest and it was determined that of all of the freshmen in my tiny little high school, I was the one who could best read a map.
Fast forward a few years and it occurred to me that reading a map was a rather pointless skill. In a world where the Internet can give you turn-by-turn directions, maps are sort of helpful. But, in a world with GPS, where even your phone can tell you that you need to turn right in 50 feet, nobody needs to be able to read a map.
I mean, it's still a useful skill, but not. Suck it, Dora.
Don't tell Alexis, though.
I don't know why she is fascinated with maps, but she always has been. If we go to the zoo, she grabs a map. She will use it to tell us what is coming up next and follow the paths all around.
She does the same thing at Phipps.
The crazy thing is that the kid could be a tour guide at both of those places. She doesn't need the dang map to know that we need to turn right, but yet she spends ten minutes staring and getting her bearing and figuring it all out every time it's time to move to a new section of the complex. IT'S MADDENING.
But yet, it's not.
Because the kid knows how to read a map and that's pretty cool.