Musings from the Grange
by Lilly Wit

There was a letter in my mail the other day from the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission.
Since I knew I hadn’t been on the turnpike recently, I mentally spun the wheel of drivers in my house, trying to guess which one had angered the Turnpike gods and was about to be struck down with a $70.00 ticket.

And the winner was … my son, who had apparently exited the turnpike using an EZ-Pass lane.

His sister, who was with me when I opened the mail, giggled with evil sibling glee.  “Give it to me,” she cackled.  “I’m going to take a picture of it and send it to him.”

A short time later, I heard from my son.

“That’s b.s. with the ezpass thing,” he texted me.  “We never got off the turnpike.”

“Since you’re obviously not still on the turnpike,” I texted back, “you must have gotten off of it.”

 “No,” he replied, “I never got off the turnpike.”

“Dear Lord, help me,” I thought.  “This is supposed to be the smart one.”

As George Bernard Shaw once famously said, “The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place.”

At Innovation Park, we understand that communication is the key to a good community.  Good communication, with free flowing ideas, meaningful listening and mutual respect, leads to greater understanding and shared goals.  In other words, when people can “get through” to each other, they build relationships and that builds community.

Great communities are built with great communication.

We are working hard to communicate the good of the Innovation Park community – both inside the Park and to the greater community throughout Central PA.  We need your help and ideas for interesting stories.  In case we haven’t expressed ourselves clearly, send us leads on good story lines about people, companies, and organizations in the Park.

When my son got home the other evening, he studied the Turnpike letter, trying to figure out where he went wrong.

“I’m telling you,” he said, sitting at my kitchen table looking quizzically at the photo of his license plate, “I never left the turnpike.  There was no exit, no ramp, and no booths.  I just kept driving on the same road.”

So my husband explained Slip Exits and EZ-Pass Only signs and what they mean and how confusing they can be.  My son nodded his head in apparent understanding and, after a long pause, finally said, “Okay, but, you’re not listening to me.  I never got off the turnpike.  I don’t understand how they got this picture.”  My husband replied, “Well, listen carefully to me Sherlock Holmes, you did exit the turnpike… at the exact location where they took this high quality, clear as day picture of our license plate!  Get out your checkbook.”

Yep, he’s the smart one. Lord, help us all.