The art of map reading is a useful skill to have. Some people (myself excluded) are “map people,” easily able to use maps to navigate successfully around new landscapes. A friend of mine, before going travelling in South America, wisely embarked upon a map-reading course—something I never knew existed until she said she was going to do it.
As children, one of my sisters and I often created “treasure maps.” We would draw fictitious landscapes on pieces of tracing paper, the edges of which we then singed with candle flames to create a parched, antiquated look. Guided by our cartographical artwork, we would go digging in the garden for buried treasure.
I still view maps as treasure maps of sorts. More than simply being practical tools for finding specific locations, they are networks of possibilities leading to unfolding adventures and (one of my favourite words) serendipity—the finding of something valuable or delightful when not looking for it.