Scavenger Hunt

Over the past year or longer, the boys picked up a new skill. No matter where we are, they are able to find objects which they deem worthy of saving. It began innocently. They would see a cool rock. And honestly, I liked the enthusiasm. So although they often found the "cool rock" from amongst the landscaping rock which borders our house, I echoed their enthusiasm. At first. I soon realized that both boys, if left unchecked, would cover every available surface and drawer in the house with these rocks. I was more worried about trying to figure out what to do with all of these rocks than I was about the idea of eventually needing to replace the landscaping rock, which would doubtless involve ordering 3 more yards of landscaping rock, shoveling it load by load into a wheelbarrow and spreading it out with a rake. And so I advised the boys that the rocks were to be kept in a cardboard box in the garage. But that didn't work out. I didn't like having a big box of rocks in our very small garage. So I came up with a new plan. I told the boys they could keep each new rock they found, but only for 3 days. So now we have a series of rocks revolving through the house, but not taking up residence. This has been effective in keeping the total rock population in the house to a minimum, but I'm not confident that I really thought this through completely.

So, it started with rocks. But then it progressed, evolved. They still find rocks, but now they also find other items (some would call these items "trash" or "garbage" but I don't think that's an entirely fair classification). For example, one boy might find a rubber band (which they would fight over because rubber bands are cool and useful). Or maybe a pen. Or even a pen cap. Spencer found a gold-colored pencap that was a quite a favorite. He was very attached to it and referred to it as "my golden." For those familiar with Lord of the Rings, I'm sure that sounds Golum-esque, but it didn't when Spencer said it. He is much sweeter than Golum. In a parking lot, one boy (I don't recall which) picked up a receipt and proudly declared "we could use this for a bookmark." Which we could, but did not (although we are in fact nearly always in need of bookmarks). The boys also enjoy finding various items that litter the floors in clothing stores. They scour the floors, picking up broken hangers and pieces of plastic. These items are deposited with me briefly before they are passed along to the cashier so she can dispose of them properly. In grocery stores, they collect twist ties from the produce department.

One day an event happened that ratcheted up the fairly relaxed attitude of these searches. This event was the discovery of a penny. And then a nickel. The boys have become quite driven. They are intent on finding some piece of money whenever we go out. My abiding hope is that either both boys find a coin of the same denomination or that neither boy finds anything. One day in the hardware store, I was surprised and slightly disgusted to find both of my children lying flat on their stomachs scanning under the rickety, over-packed shelves for lost change. I pretended this was normal. I told them it was time to go, and once outside I advised them that it was not acceptable to lie on the dirty floors of stores looking for money. Of course this was followed by the inevitable questions. "But what if we can see money, can we lie down to get it?" "What if it is $100?" Of course I told them that would be fine, but they'd have to share it with me.

I hope this ends soon.