Confronting the Lies Regarding Perceptions and Assumptions - finding the webcam - Part II

Today, we continue the search for the Earth Cam.  A search that involved all sorts of perceptions and assumptions - and skill sets.  A search which became a pivotal point in my journey towards recovery.  The part of recovery which realizes what the lies were and becomes aware that they were just that:  lies.

I've chosen today's and yesterday's pictures of the red walking tour line in Salem Massachusetts because I wish recovery were more like these pictures.  A line.  A bold, red line at that.  Marking clearly the way to go.  When to walk straight.  When to turn.  Etc.  With lots of neat things to pass by and enjoy on the way.

Unfortunately, recovery - especially recovery from trauma and PTSD after workplace abuse - is not like that.  It's neither clear cut nor straightforward  We have to make it up as we go along.

We have to learn to trust our perceptions and assumptions as to which way to turn, what to do, what not to do.  We have to learn to trust our instincts ... which at its basest perceptions and assumptions are.

*******

Obviously (if you've read the Togetherness post), you know that we did find the Myrtle Beach earth cam - eventually.

But how?

What happened to change my/our perceptions and assumptions as to where it really was?

A minor thing.  Something inconsequential really.

I simply picked up a brochure to read in the washroom, opened it and Voilla! there was a picture of the boardwalk we had seen from the earth cam.

I knew then that the key to finding the earth cam was to finding the boardwalk.

No address was given in the pamphlet.  So I went to the computer and started doing google searches.  It took me a few minutes and a bit of trial and error (drat those perceptions and assumptions on key words to use!), but after a bit I found it!

I found it!

On the computer.

I had a location.

Second challenge.  To get the car to go there.  Or rather to get the driver of the car to go there - as he had his own perceptions and assumptions as to where we were going and kept veering off to the beach way too soon.

The boardwalk area is in the heart of Myrtle Beach.  The city, in fact both cities, are laid out in a grid pattern made easier by the fact that the cross streets are all sequentially numbered.

Finally, we got to the area ...

... and started walking towards the beach.

It was right there.  The boardwalk I mean.  Now to find the earth cam.

It was Hubby who found it.

The first words out of his mouth were:  "There's the flags we saw."

He raised his arm pointing at the flags, then pivoted around with his arms still raised ...

... and stopped still pointing with his arm raised, "There it is!"

We had found it!  It took both of our skills ... perseverance, computer, practical, obersation, etc. ... but WE found it!

It also took both of our combined perceptions and assumptions as well.  After all, he was the one who clued in because of the flags that we were in the exact right spot.  If we were at the spot with the flags, then we had to be at the spot with the earth cam.  If we were seeing the flags, then we needed to realize what angle we were seeing them from on the web and deduce the location from that perception, that knowledge, which is exactly what he did.  It's called deductive reasoning.  It's a skill.  An asset.

Hubby standing at the place where we made the phone calls.  Notice that he's wearing a U.S. t-shirt.  Maybe so that people passing by will perceive and assume that we're just crazy Americans - not the crazy Canadians we really are?

 The next morning we came back, cell phone in hand and called each of our daughters in turn, asked them if they were close to a computer and then instructed each on how to access it - and us.

We talked - and waved - to each.  It was hilarious as people walked past these two weirdos waving at the sky ... or was it a building?  They didn't know.  They had no clue.  While our daughters watched the whole thing from Canada.

They had their own perceptions and assumptions - based on what they were seeing.  And also on what they were not seeing.  The earth cam.

One couple stopped and talked to us so we pointed out what they were missing.  They too were from Ontario - which gave them bonus points in our eyes - and in our perceptions and assumptions.

They were staying for the winter and had passed that point many times - and never seen the cam - because they weren't looking for it.  They didn't know it existed.

 One of the first things, Mr. Observant Hubby noticed the first night we found the earth cam was that the small white Christmas lights which we had seen from Canada were still on the railings.

The next morning, they were gone.  Actually, we discovered that they were in the process of being removed.  We found and spoke with the young guy who was taking them down and said we'd seen them from Canada - on the earth cam.  He had been there for two years and had never noticed the earth cam even though he worked in the building right beside it!

Right around the corner from the earth cam

Perceptions and assumptions.  We all have them.  We cannot really navigate through life without them.  Our perceptions and assumptions include feeling pain and knowing that we need to do something about it; when to get off the highway; even things so base as hunger and the need for the washroom.    There's nothing wrong with them.

Never has been; never will be.

Ironically, even those in the workplace who sneered at me because of my perceptions and assumptions had their own.

Add caption

 And so I bid you farewell today.

Have a nice day wherever you are.

See you tomorrow ... as we are once again exploring the path (or rather paths) leading to debunking the lies.

Another facet of perceptions and assumptions coming up.

Until then ....