A Map of My World

I inherited my love of maps from my mother. She has told me the story of how a map of the world (and one of the United States) hung on the wall of the hallway in her home growing up. Every time she walked the hall, she looked at the map and that informed her of the layout of the world a little bit at a time.

We had maps in our basement playroom growing up. When I had children, I duly bought maps and hung them in various places in all the houses we’ve lived in.

When we moved into our new house I wanted to take things up a notch, so I purchased this beautiful map from National Geographic. It currently hangs (surprise, surprise) in our hall, and one or the other of us often stops and searches around to find locations.

There is always something new to see on a map. I don’t know why, but I’m always surprised to see where New Zealand has gotten to (for some reason I envision it on the other side of Australia). There are so many islands whose names are familiar, but whose locations are a little bit sketchy to me until I see them on the map again. It’s fun to see the names of places on all the fringes of continents – places you know are way too darn cold to live.

If a get-together ever gets awkwardly quiet, I’ve found it helps to pull out an atlas and hand it to someone. You won’t be able to shut people up after that. Stories about trips, ancestral homes, and more will spill out of even the shyest guest.

Do you have maps in your house? What kind?