Scavenger Hunting

I enjoy scavenger hunts. Give me a clue that requires me to use off-the-wall random knowledge I've acquired to take me to the prize and I’m all thrills. I like scavenger hunts when there is a foreseeable end; in two hours tops, it’s over.

My brother and I (him in the middle and I on the right) used to craft scavenger hunts around the house; one of many of our made-up games that we created to amuse ourselves. This along with stair ball and slither-on-the-carpet-around-the-living-room-and-not-get-caught-by-the-light-on-the-alarm (okay this one didn’t have an “official” title), were a few of my favorites.

For our house-hunts (not to be confused with HDTV’s popular hit ‘House Hunters’), we would make the other sit in their room until all the clues we had thought up were spread out amongst the house. We’d get real creative with clues like, “Mom says we can’t have these til after dinner,” that led us to the teddy bear cookie jar. Whoever completed their scavenger hunt in less time, won. And usually at the final destination, there was some type of prize. Maybe a lego piece or something else that would bring relative joy to a 10 year old.

These were what I considered to be good times. You figure it out in minutes, go to the next destination and before you know it, success! You win.

Suck it scavenger hunt.

The house suddenly became the world and I realized that these clues could take me anywhere. That in itself is incredibly overwhelming. What if I misread these clues? If the “hint” was to take a left at the fork and I took a right and ended up in Norway but was supposed to be in Nepal* (yeah, right)...will another path form? It’s not as easy as backtracking from mom and dad’s room to the living room. And if I do misstep, are there two possible right answers or can we increase the odds and say there are infinite directions that lead to awesomeness?

I realize I am overanalyzing. I do this often. This time my excuse is that a new year of my life looms just days before me. I am about to hop on the slide that will take me into the latter years of my twenties and that in a sense is terrifying. Not because I feel “old” (okay maybe a little) but because I haven’t figured it out. Unlike my brother’s clues, they are very well hidden.

"All you have to do is pay attention; lessons always arrive when you are ready, and if you can read the signs, you will learn everything you need to know in order to take the next step." -Paolo Coelho

Sweet. I'm all ears.

*Devoted blog readers (all two of you), please remind me I wrote this when I send you a postcard from Nepal.