Well we have fully embraced the obsession of Geocaching. Logging 40+ caches without technology we hit eBay and ordered our first GPS. After our unit arrived and we struggled as to who was going to be the navigator of our two person team I let go of the box and Aleksandra almost fell over backwards. Since the instruction booklet is almost 1/4” thick (and written in techno-speak, printed in tiny “go get your glasses” font size) I figured she would be in her reading chair for at least the better part of the afternoon. I might get to a few man chores. Before I could find my tool belt and gloves my better half asked if I could make her some tea. Ok, I can use the microwave, that’s a power tool right? “And honey, use the kettle, the microwave makes the tea taste funny” she said with a wink. Grrr, ok, not a real power tool but it does plug into120V AC! That’s serious stuff in the wrong hands.

Tea delivered, I quietly slipped away to the most sacred man refuge -- the basement. Surrounded by power tools, grease and sawdust I set about my work. I found a nice piece of walnut I had been saving and started dreaming up a project when my cell phone chirped. I know I should have left it upstairs but it was too late. My wife was calling on her cell phone (we have that “talk to anyone in your billing group” thingy). She asked me if I knew how to run a pocket query? Huh, no not really? I headed back upstairs to help her figure it out and I had a slight grin that the leader of our team needed my help. I take off my gloves and start looking for my glasses and she had the unit attached to the PC and was transferring data to the GPS. In the few minutes since I left she had absorbed enough of the instructions to have the closest 100 geocaches loaded and she was smiling with that “I am smarter than you” look that makes me melt. I mean, how lucky can a guy get to have a wife who loves gadgets and hiking and canoeing and doesn’t mind if I buy another ugly fishing shirt?

Well, my plans changed right there, we quickly grabbed our gear and headed to the truck. She even likes my truck! We had several caches that we really wanted to try but there was no way without a GPS. The locations were too hard to pinpoint with the mapping images and all the satellite photos. Heck even some multi-stage caches had only coordinates in micro containers to direct you to the next cache. Off we went.

Once we got close and found a parking spot that wasn’t too bad we headed into the woods. Since she had the GPS she would lead and I would follow, Sherpa that I am. Well this didn’t work so well as the walking with your eyes on the screen of the GPS didn’t allow for more important tasks such as watching the trail for roots and spider webs. We decided (she told me and I obeyed) to switch. I would bushwhack and she would direct. Never give a woman this much control, unless there is no possible way you could be discovered by anyone you know. It’s too hard to explain. We pressed on and after an interesting walk we heard the unit chip that we had arrived. Hmmm, guess its back to the clues and powers of observation. She sat down with the GPS and I started looking. I was crawling around, over and under poking lifting and reaching into dark places without success. “A little help please!” I asked in frustration. She looked at me they way she does when I interrupt her in the middle of something. The silent raise of one eyebrow and a half smile of hmmm. She stood up and looked at me covered in forest trash and informed me that men have severely limited situational powers of observation. What? “Its right there”, pointing to the large metal ammo box three feet from my backpack. “Men just don’t see thing the way women do” I was told. “Do to” was my gusty reply. “If they really wanted men to find all of the caches hidden out here they would have put breasts on them or a tight pair of jeans”, she said as I reached down to open the cache. It’s hard to argue with her on that point. Men are different. I smiled and we swapped swag and headed out.

David is an architect and his wife is completing her PhD in clinical psychology. The couple lives in Birmingham, Alabama.