Many geocachers have what are called “signature items,” special trinkets that they leave in every cache they visit and log.
One of the people interviewed for my book, Mary Votava (check out how gorgeous this woman is at maryvotava.org) both leaves her own (handmade!) signature item *and* generally picks up only signature items from other caches.
And, true to human nature, there are people on the geocaching forums who complain that they hate signature items and that it’s all a big ego trip.
Me? I admire people who have the organization and energy to leave signature items in caches. I’ve often *thought* about it (ah, that deadly “I’ll think about it!”) and never taken the extra step to doing it. I’d probably buy a lot of small buddha statues and leave a buddha everywhere I go, that *has* to be good karma! But somewhere between inspiration and action my plan usually fails.
Which is the story of all the great has-beens, the ideas that didn’t quite make it, the opportunities never seized. We all just think about hw wonderful it would be if we could do such-and-such, and never “get around to” doing it. And almost invariably look back and say, “if only.”
I’ve got a lot of really good reasons for not following through on my signature item idea. Work tends to get in the way of recreation, sometimes, much as I wish it wouldn’t. Cash flow sometimes dictates frugality when I’m planning the monthly budget, and buying something in bulk can be a big-ticket sort of expenditure. And when my stepchildren are here, far too infrequently, we usually spend our time together doing things, not planning out what to do with future geocaches.
But when the reasons not to “get around” to doing something keep one incapacitated, one has to wonder at the end of the day whether one ever really intended to do it at all. After all, I coul have been looking at prices for buddhas on the web instead of writing this blog this morning!
Hmm. Way too much philosophy here. Think I’ll go get a coffee and think about what not to do next….
– Jeannette Cézanne
Posted by: — jcezanne
|
