(by labgal13)
I have one Godchild. Her name is Lyla (aka ljwaranka). Not having any children myself, I wasn’t sure what I was getting myself into with this role of Godparent, but I figured, at the very least, I would have a new shopping buddy once she was, perhaps, a teenager.
It turns out Lyla doesn’t like to shop. She does, however, have an interest for this hobby called geocaching. It started when she was 12 years old, after learning about it through a classmate at Hunter Safety course. As her mom works Saturdays, and I was her Godmother after all, I volunteered to drive her around a few times to find these hidden treasures. It seemed like fun, even though our first adventure was on a frigid 9-degree winter day in Wisconsin and I didn’t know it at the time, but I was referred to as a “muggle”. Did I really lack any magical ability? Perhaps I did at the time.
Fast forward to August where, as the devoted Godmother that I am, I agreed to chauffeur Lyla for the West Bend Cache Ba$h. Little did I know at the time, that this would be the start of an obsession for me. That Friday night, I signed up for my own account, easily picking the name “labgal13” as my labs are my life and my favorite number is 13 (I never said I was normal). We continued to seek out our treasures on Saturday and I proudly signed my new “magical” name to the logs next to ljwaranka.
After the Cache Ba$h, Lyla and I attended several geocaching events and began to add days to our geocalendars. Our biggest day followed Mr. Greenthumb and Sunshine’s Very Merry Breakfast event, where we were able to meet fellow geocachers with the same obsession. We claimed 36 smileys that day with a nice walk on the Bugline, followed by a few visits to cemeteries, silos, and emeralds. What a rush! Lyla was the most excited I have ever seen her and I was glad to be a part of that happiness.
Our most recent event was the WGA Campout which we both enjoyed very much, despite spending a chilly 33-degree night in a tent. As it hailed while we set up our tent, we looked at each other and both agreed that we were crazy for doing this but we were determined to sleep in that tent that night. And we did. Again, we met some more great people and experienced night caching for the first time. So fun!
Lyla and I have had a ton of fun in the last year finding each hidden treasure, learning about new places and historical events, challenging our minds (and our bodies!), finding new parks (and restaurants), meeting wonderful fellow geocachers along the way, and enjoying what beauty this planet has to offer (or Wisconsin). Geocaching is a hobby that has strengthened our bond as no other hobby could, in my opinion.
Instead of looking forward to shopping, as I once did, I now look forward to finding my next cache. One day I planned to find a few caches on my way to the Johnson Creek Outlet Mall. I never found my way to the mall as I was having too much fun working on the silo challenge! What was happening to me?
Summer is coming up and Lyla will be enjoying her summer break from school. I am not as fortunate to have off of work for the summer, but I will use some vacation time as we plan to visit some Wisconsin State Parks and continue to work on our calendars. We may even attempt to cross some state borders! As of the time I write this article, I have 159 more days to go yet (sigh) before I have a full calendar. That said, I was able to claim February 29th this year, which is pretty lucky given my favorite number is 13.