July 23, 2005, 8:53 pm Frivlas asked in a GBA forum why people geocache, which caused me to dig a little deeper into my motivations. Reasons others gave included getting into the outdoors, finding new places, learning about new things, and meeting new people. Those are benefits that I resonate with, but all those are possible without geocaching.
There must be more to it than that. I enjoy problem solving. In my day as a hardware/software designer, I loved debugging. I got a real sense of satisfaction from knocking out a bug. (Which leads to the obvious question, would my designs have been more reliable if I had hated debugging?) I like the challenge of the hunt in geocaching. I like the satisfaction of finding a cleverly hidden cache.
In addition, I’m somewhat competitive and compulsive. I like to see the log numbers get bigger. I check the Bay Area leader’s page to see if I can move up another spot or two. I have felt out of sorts when other things keep me from going geocaching (and maybe that’s actually moving from compulsion to addiction).
July 23, 2005, 8:46 pm From The Fellowship of the Ring DVD…
Frodo: “I wish the ring had never come to me. I wish none of this had happened.”
Gandalf: “So do all who live to see such times, but that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us.”
I wish, oh, so much, that none of this had happened, as do all who face a cancer situation. But, what is now important is to decide what to do with the time that is now before us.
July 20, 2005, 8:41 pm I started geocaching in October, 2004 and was pretty much hooked from the beginning. I enjoyed going to new places. I enjoyed the challenge of searching and finding. And, of course I liked seeing the log stats grow.
Milestones achieved
- 12/12/04 — 100
- 01/20/05 — 200
- 02/28/05 — 300
- 04/03/05 — 400
- 05/20/05 — 500
- 06/27/05 — 600
I had thoughts of reaching 1000 finds in my first year, although frankly that was very optimistic. I thought maybe I could accelerate my average finds per week, but was noticing at the beginning of July that the hot weather killed my cache hunting desire.
But on July 12, 2005 my universe changed. Karen, my co-pilot when we cache together, my best friend, my confidant, my partner in every way, my wife, was diagnosed with breast cancer. I am finding it difficult to accomplish anything, to maintain focus on anything, let alone get motivated to go geocaching. I expect as we go through the treatment (she gets the treatment–I just worry), some geocaching might be therapeutic for me. But not just yet.
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Consider this:“Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.” 1 John 4:7 |