A New York Times essay Sunday bemoaned the fact that we have let the GPS replace the "natural roadmap' we have in our own heads, and has caused us to become lazy and dependent upon it.

It's written by Psychologist Julia Frankenstein at the Center for Cognitive Science at the University of Freiburg .

(Ha! I"ll show her Frankenstein!!! She obviously never drove with MY husband, and possibly yours. Mine certainly had no mental roadmap.)

My darling late husband had many wonderful traits, but a sense of direction was not one of them. He never knew if he was going north, south, east or west until auto designers added a small letter to the corner of our new car's rear view mirror. Worse, like most husbands, he usually took the wheel when we embarked on any trip, even to visit friends in nearby suburbs.

When we got lost and drove in circles in the dark, also like most men, he didn't want to stop and ask directions although I begged him too. When he finally did, he'd shake his head in agreement with the informant, then say to me as we drove off, "So which way do I go?"

I'm a slow learner sometimes, but eventually I learned to take out pencil and paper and write down directions as the informant recited them and then lead us to our destination.

In truth, I believe my husband would have loved the GPS as much as I do because he'd never have to ask directions again.

I suspect Julia Frankenstein never married.