Left or right, thats the question...

When giving directions to someone, I always told them landmarks to turn at....I used landmarks to drive around...

I lived in Oklahoma more than 30 yrs.  OKC is laid out in a square grid, with all name signs running south and north, and numbered street signs east and west...very easy to get around without help in Oklahoma city.  I also wore a wedding ring...

The wedding ring, of course, is on the left hand...so I always knew which way was left.....until I took that ring off....

My husband usually steered me around at malls and stuff, by placing his hand on my neck and physically turning me to the direction he wanted to go....I hated that....

When I left Oklahoma and moved to Virginia, I discovered the town I live in is NOT set in a grid, it winds and curves all over the damn place...I had to start using the WAZE app to drive in my new place.   But I was still having such a hard time with directions....My WAZE would say "turn left, or turn right"....I was constantly getting lost and so fucking aggravated, it was awful.

Finally one day, I just stopped driving, I was so confused and lost, even with WAZE that I just pulled over and stopped my car.  I called my friend, crying, screaming in frustration and he pulled up my location and started telling me how to get back, by giving me landmarks...which was fine until he said "turn left at the park"...I drove right by....he was so confused as to why I could not simply turn left or right....Then a lightbulb came on with him...He changed the way he was directing me, he started saying turn "passenger side" or turn "drivers side"...I was able to get where I was going.

My friend is a drummer, when I got to his place he asked me to do an experiment with him.  I sat beside him and watched as he padded on his legs..left, left, right, right, left.  By watching I was easily able to do what he asked.  Then, without demonstrating he asked me to repeat it but it was...right, right, left, left, right..Without being able to watch him, I was not able to do it correctly.  He then looked at me and said "you don't know your left from your right, do you?" and I responded, "I guess not.."  I was so embarrassed to realize that I was an adult and didn't know my left from my right.

My friend found a Sharpie pen and wrote L on the backside of my left hand and an R on the back of my right hand. Then we took a short drive using the WAZE app again, and I was able to drive the complicated course without any errors by just quickly glancing at my hands as the program gave me a direction. 

A few days later, when I realized the importance of my new letters on my hands, I went to a local tattoo artist and had them tattoo a "R" on my right hand and an "L" on my left. 

  Also, on the dash of my car by the speedometer and small chrome L and a R were put there for the days I wear gloves.....my directional issue was fixed!!

For most of my life, I felt like I was ambidextrous. I could write and draw with both hands. But in reality I have discovered I was born a "lefty" and forced to be a "righty". This has just added to the confusion in my head about directions. (but that will be another story)

Fact is, I'm much better now with this issue due to my little tattoos and I haven't gotten frustrated or lost in a very long time now. I apologize to the makers of WAZE for the thousands of cuss words I screamed in vain about your app.