Rescued treasures: From money to stones to keys, daily walks find adventures
Have you ever dreamed of being a pirate and finding lost treasures that would make you so wealthy you’d be able to do (almost) anything? If so try walking every day for an hour or two. The experiences you’ll have and the treasures you find are beyond comparison!
An hour or two seems like a long time, but it passes quickly when you have a goal in mind. My goal is finding things along the way that have been lost or discarded by those who walked the path before me.
I find a lot of coins and even dollar bills (wet from the rain)... plus many interesting things that had lost their value to the people who’d discarded them. I’ve found entire sets of keys (My husband called the businesses near the area I had walked... and found the manager of a nearby plant who found they belonged to one of the workers who had changed from his coveralls after he’d pulled from the parking lot.); and a new Rawlings catcher’s mitt, among so much more.
All kinds of animals try to avoid my steps...especially slow turtles and deer who have just decided to cross the same road that I have. Often a deer will stop, and look back as if to say, “Don’t get in my way.”
As mile markers appear, there’s a certain pride in yourself as you continue on with your adventure. Also there’s a feeling of comradeship and a smile as you pass other walkers...or the truck drivers you see over and over... and who often give you a honk of ‘hello’ (one of them even stopped to say he’d missed me and hoped I hadn’t been ill. When I told him about my alternate routes...He just smiled and nodded before continuing on his way).
Every time I pass a mile marker I pocket a small stone. When I return home, I put these into a plastic waste basket. To date I have walked enough miles to give birth to two small gardens (which the grandsons have claimed as theirs...hanging a sign of ownership in them).
Among the ‘surprises’ I discovered along life’s way was a small bench that only needed some repair and paint for use in one of our gardens; enough trim from an old house for my husband to make into numerous picture frames; parts of old birdbaths...and so much more that people have just set beside the road for any scavenger that happens to find a use for these discarded treasures.
I doubt I will ever challenge Methuselah for his record for a long life, but the adventures I’ve had from my a.m. strolls has caused me to often wonder just exactly what lies around the next bend. I now have less fear of dying than I’ve ever had...because who knows what actually lies ahead of us as we walk our last path. If final oblivion is the answer...it really won’t matter. I’ll just know that I have left something behind for others to enjoy on their way of discovery...as they walk their path. Who could ask for anything more?
Oh, and remember the new catcher’s mitt I’d found? Picking it up from the rain, I’d put it inside a dugout to dry...with a note that said, “Do you belong to this?” Well, after checking for four days...it was suggested that the owner hadn’t been found and that I should bring it home to gift it to some young softball player. So, carrying a double plastic bag (whose store name needn’t be mentioned) I went on my venture to the park dugout to retrieve the new, Rawlings mitt...only to discover one very old mitt.
The other one had been adopted by the owner of this antique...and they had left me a note. It said, Thanx for the swap.”
When I returned home with this ‘new’ treasure and its accompanying note my husband just laughed. “So your walking has benefitted more than just us,” was his comment...and once more...the value of walking had proven itself. What more can anyone ask for...from something that costs so little, but has resulted in so many wonderful ‘returns’ in the way of giving new life to old treasures that are no longer of use to their previous proud owners?
I did decide however to not put a sign in our front yard that said...’leave your old treasures here.’ Who knows what kind of junk one could accumulate if I did that?
After all, we gather enough stuff that we no longer need ourselves...and we aren’t the county dump!
This article originally appeared on The Monroe News: Rescued treasures: Daily walks can find all sorts of adventures
