So this guy walks up behind me and says, "Hey, whatcha' doin'?"
Surprised that someone was able to sneak up on me so easily, I turned to see who I was dealing with and was sure it had to be a Navy S.E.A.L. employing full stealth capabilities. Knowing I was caught red-handed, I decided to be as vague as possible. "Oh, I'm just playing a game," I replied.
"And what kinda game are you playing with that little do-hickey in your hand?"
Busted for sure, I decide to cough up some more information. "Well, this is a GPS unit and I'm looking for something called a cache. It's an internet game of sorts".
"Uh huh ... you're not planting a bomb are you?" came his next question. "No, and I certainly wouldn't want to blow up this cemetery if I were a bomb-planting kind of guy."
The gentleman let out a hardy belly laugh and sat down next to me. What followed was a very enjoyable conversation about geocaching, family, faith and the inter-workings of my trumpet mouthpiece. Go figure.
I've meet some very interesting people through geocaching. I'm not talking about the other cachers I've met as much as I'm talking about the amazing people you meet during the hunt or on your way to the cache. I guess these are people that you wouldn't give a second glance while walking the aisles of Wal-Mart but for some reason become pillars of wisdom out on the trail. In general people love to talk and as the saying goes ... everyone has a story. I've learned that it only takes a few well-placed questions for most people to open up and tell you something interesting about themselves.
I don't know a stranger, which often cause my mom stress while I was growing up. I think she knew that I was the kind of kid that would be happy to "help you find your lost puppy" then hop in the car never to be heard from again. Well, I'm a little smarter now, but for the most part I love talking to people I don't know. Everyone seems to have at least one thing that I either learn from or pack away in that little treasure chest of my mind for later use. Every January I serve as the Master of Ceremonies for the local high school variety show, and these little stories from people I meet come in handy.
I'm not sure if he's still on TV or not, but there use to be this guy on one of the morning shows (maybe CBS) that would take a dart and throw it at a map. Where ever the dart stuck was where he would go and find someone interesting to talk to. Inevitably, he would end up in some little farming town in Montana, latch on to a local phone book and point to a name. Once the person was chosen he would seek them out and learn the most fascinating story. I've always thought that would be my dream job. Taking time to listen to stories has taught me some wonderful life lessons.
I use to be a nursing home administrator for a couple of different nursing homes and my vault of stories is chock full of wonderful morsels of information. There once was a resident in one of my homes named of Antonio, and he was always sharing something that never failed to brighten my day. On his birthday he had a big party and all of his family came to see him -- there must have been sixty or seventy people present for the festivities. The next day I said, "Hey Tony, you had a bunch of family here yesterday. How many kids do you have?" Tony replied, "fourteen ... I have fourteen children!" "WOW!" I said, "how in the world did you get fourteen kids?" Then he looked up at me with a big smile on his face, shrugged his shoulders and said in a thick Italian accent, " Eh ... no TV." I almost wet myself laughing.
One time I was driving to find a cache and I took a quick look at the cache page. The hint read "Just south of the big peach". I had to laugh out loud when I pulled up to a giant peach that stood about twenty feet tall. The place was a little roadside orchard and market, and sold all things peachy. After taking a long look around the market and finally buying some peach butter, I spied a rocking chair out front where I sat and enjoyed a big bottle of water on a nice fall day. An older fellow approached and sat in the rocker next to me. He said what I could only guess is the first thing that everyone says while sitting here. "That's a pretty big peach, huh"? All of the sudden I felt like I was eighty years old, sitting on my front porch and telling someone that a tornado is a-comin' and I knew this because my bursitis was acting up. We sat and talked for a few minutes about nothing -- nothing at all ... and it was a wonderful few minutes shared with a total stranger.
I guess that's my point -- talk to people, even if it's about nothing. Everyone has something to share and slowing your pace long enough to listen will enrich your life. You will learn things, laugh at stories and it always makes others feel good. Who knows, maybe you will make a life long friend that really does want to hear about your bursitis.