04-30-2015, 10:54 AM
Well I will say I enjoy it a little better when someone else has done the hard work and I can take my time staring at things behind glass. But there is also a very special thrill in discovering a hidden object or site that doesn't exist for anyone but you. Something lost to time that permanently connects you to the person who last used it hundreds or thousands of years ago.
True story: when my son was maybe 6 years old we visited his maternal aunt in central NY and one morning went for a walk along a path that contained the ruins of an old textile mill and grounds. My wife and her sister went power walking through and we're intent on exercise. But the boy and I meandered, exploring overgrown side trails and bushes and nooks and crannies while I explained on his level what it meant to study ruins. We happened on a foundation that was some sort of old cottage, littered with old debris and bits of China etc. I pointed to a sliver mostly buried and said "ssuppose we dug up this bit of China and then we could see what it was, who used it, how old, maybe find some other pieces and put it back together."
So of course he wanted to and we started to dig. And I'll be damn ed if it wasn't a full antique China teacup buried in the dirt, completely intact. Completely by accident and hooked the boy on the rush of discovery.
One of the coolest memories he and I share that's ours alone. His mom never got it. Her mind only saw a dirty old cup.
True story: when my son was maybe 6 years old we visited his maternal aunt in central NY and one morning went for a walk along a path that contained the ruins of an old textile mill and grounds. My wife and her sister went power walking through and we're intent on exercise. But the boy and I meandered, exploring overgrown side trails and bushes and nooks and crannies while I explained on his level what it meant to study ruins. We happened on a foundation that was some sort of old cottage, littered with old debris and bits of China etc. I pointed to a sliver mostly buried and said "ssuppose we dug up this bit of China and then we could see what it was, who used it, how old, maybe find some other pieces and put it back together."
So of course he wanted to and we started to dig. And I'll be damn ed if it wasn't a full antique China teacup buried in the dirt, completely intact. Completely by accident and hooked the boy on the rush of discovery.
One of the coolest memories he and I share that's ours alone. His mom never got it. Her mind only saw a dirty old cup.
Thank god I am oblivious to the opinions of others while caught in the blinding splendor of my own cleverness.