Maps

The High Holy of Maps - this is a 'rite of passage' picture

For as long as I can remember, maps have been a source of endless fascination for me. Now, it's not like I have hundreds of maps laying about or adorning the walls of my man cave. I have no man cave and I'm too borderline obsessive compulsive to have unfolded maps strewn about. Nor was I so fascinated that I decided to dedicate my life's work to cartography.

That said, maps did me a huge favor from a very early age. They helped me to see that there was a world out there that was far different from the world I knew and I wanted to see it. From time to time, I would pour over maps, figuring out where I would go and how I would get there. I wound up spending a lot of time buried in airline route maps that were embedded in timetables. Yes, I grew up in a day when you had to have a timetable from all the carriers in your hand if you wanted to know when there was a flight to London on a Wednesday. Those were dark days. Let's not speak of it again. As I poured over those maps, I plotted how I'd get to where I wanted to go. My mind ran wild thinking of what I might see and do in those far-off places. I've been very lucky because I've been able to get to most of those places. What an amazing place this world is!

I got to thinking about maps earlier this week on our new favorite day, Thursday, because we heard from The Missionary Formerly Known as The Boy and his letter, now posted on his blog, had a few pictures including the one featured in today's post. He's standing in front of the large map that is found in the MTC and he's pointing to his mission. It's essentially a law from on High that every missionary while in the MTC plants him/herself in front of the map, pointing to their mission, and gets a picture. I did it nearly 30 years ago. On that subject, in one of his notes, Elder Lyons pointed out that he knows the MTC is really old because I was there. Nice.

Anyway, as I looked at this picture of him, it made me think of how his world view is going to change as he gets to Mexico and makes it his home for two years. His world view will change and so will he. I'm excited for him. In spite of the challenges this world faces, it's still an amazing place.