As I have been packing up the house in Arkansas, room by room, it’s often the little, seemingly insignificant finds that tug at my heart the most or spark precious memories. Today’s discovery was one of these unexpected triggers into emotions and joyful recollections.
Sorting through a stack of papers, cards and photos, pulled from a drawer, I uncovered a small collection of folded pieces of paper. I could tell the yellow note papers had writing on them, and they were numbered on the outside. Opening one of the notes, I laughed, recognizing my own handwriting.
Memory stirred. When my three children were young, I used to create scavenger hunts for them, writing out rhyming clues that led them through out the house or yard. Each clue led to another location, where they had to find the next clue, and so on, until the hidden treasure was found.
The kids loved doing scavenger hunts. And I enjoyed creating them. I had forgotten, until today, that I had once created a scavenger hunt while we were visiting the grandparents in Arkansas. I sent the children outside to play so that I could write up the clues and hide them, and tuck away a treat.
I placed one of the clues in the front pocket of Papa Bob’s shirt, instructing him to not give away the secret. He didn’t. He sat on the sofa with a big grin lighting up his face. The kids squealed with delight as they found that clue!
Mimi Leta seemed to enjoy the experience as much as the kids. She had a wonderful child-like sense of wonder about life and the world. When the game was over, after the kids had found the hidden treat, I gathered the clues to throw them away. Mimi Leta asked if she could have them. She thought the whole idea was fun and clever.
My eyes blurred with tears, reading through the notes this afternoon, realizing she had, indeed, kept these bright scraps of paper. I’m glad she did. I relived a wonderfully warm memory.
And I am reminded of two vital truths in my life:
I am a creative person. I always have been. Although I didn’t write as a career while my family was young, I never veered far from it. I wrote newsletters and school curriculum, stories and classes that I taught…and rhyming scavenger hunt clues.
And, I live my life as one HUGE Divine scavenger hunt. Each day I watch for the clues that are given to me, leading me onward and upward to the next clue, or sign, and the next, and the next. There is as much thought and planning and joy evident in my daily clues as there were in my imaginative creations.
I get it now. And while the last clue leading me to the final hidden treasure is going to far outshine any clue I ever wrote, or any treasure that I ever hid, what a journey of discovery I have been offered. What fun I am having. And the Clue Writer, the Dream Giver, expresses so much delight.
Truly, there is joy in the journey…this journey full of clues and signs and surprises.
