There Was A Time...When This Was Very Very Cool.

 Man, it's hard for me to express just how cool this map was. 

Turn back the clock, thirty-five years. I was a missionary living in Denmark--the first time I left the United States. When you first arrive in the country, you buy stuff you'll need...a down comforter, a bike, lots of pastry, and a city map of Copenhagen, or København to the natives.

But, this was not just any map. It was an expandable map, a map so ingeniously designed, you could find any street--even the smallest alleyway--in the huge city. The first time I saw one I was enthralled. With the legend in the back, you find the street, which directs you to a numerical and alphabetical location on the map. You open the map and find the coordinates. Boom! There you go.

I wonder if any of the younger generation has ever seen a map. This isn't a dig, just a fact of living in our modern world. Who needs a paper map when you have a phone that can not only find the location, but give you exact directions as you are traveling to that very spot?

Not many.

I've kept a few things from my mission, many photographs, my journal entries, my Danish books including my Danish scriptures, and the weight I put on from the pastries (actually, back then it was impossible for me to gain weight--what a cruel world...). 

And, I kept the map. It is falling apart--the map portion itself is detached from the cover...still works, though. I think if I ever went back to Copenhagen/København, people would laugh at me if they saw me actually using it to find a location. It would be worth it, though, just to bring back the memories.

The map was cool thirty-five years ago. To me, it's possibly even cooler now.