The Small Discovery

I am getting back into the game… After an incredibly long Blog sabbatical, I decided to make a come back. Not in the Brett Favre or Michael Jordan kind of way, but in a not quite as sardonic as before way. Although my previous Blog focused on absolutely nothing (in fact was a compilation of worthless words), these musings I hope will show things from a different angle.

In this, my opening entry, I hope everyone takes just a minute to look past what may seem weird or trivial and look to the real discovery. In other words, hang with me here – my other posts should be much shorter.

A few months ago, my beautiful wife was reading a magazine and stumbled on something we knew very little about. She found something that talked about Geocaching. For those who may not know much about Geocaching, it is a glorified, technologically enhanced treasure hunt for all-but worthless booty placed for the sole purpose of others making a find. Here is a synopsis: 1) geocachers go to a website (typically http://www.geocaching.com/) and search for hidden caches in particular areas, 2) they download GPS coordinates to their portable GPS units, 3) they search for the hidden stashes, caches, treasures (or whatever you want to call them), 4) they log their “finds” on the website.

Ok, yeah, it may seem like this is silly or something for those who have nothing better to do, but we thought it was interesting enough to give it a whirl. What we have discovered is this: geocaching is an incredible way to slow the pace of our world just enough to find things that are either right in front of our eyes or in places we would never have known about.

This Blog will focus on the small discoveries that we, as a family, are making in areas we would have never seen without Geocaching. I hope you will see the significance in the bluffs overlooking local lakes, the complete joy when a child finds a tough to find hiding spot, the hidden away beautiful parks, the historical markers all over the United States marking events that shape who we are as a people today, the historical Route 66, areas visited by people for reasons that no one else can understand, and sometimes the mere fact that some things are just right under our noses and we never see them.

I am hoping my words will inspire others to take a moment to Discover a Change of Pace.