Here We Go Again

My task this week is to ORGANIZE A SCAVENGER HUNT, and so I’ve been thinking.

When I was in middle school, participating in perhaps my first scavenger hunt, we went door to door asking for random items and people gave them to us.  That would be mind-blowing for kids today. We didn’t check them off a list, or take pictures, we took the actual items with us. Those folks had to know they’d never see any of it again. It’s kind of mind-blowing to me. I’ll never forget how fun it was.

Years later, when I was working at Barnes & Noble, a trio of teenaged girls scurried in, their heads on a swivel like meerkats on the lookout for danger. When I asked if I could help, they said they were looking for a fire extinguisher. My face must have registered confusion, concern, because before I could answer one of them giggled and said for a scavenger hunt!

Librarians love a scavenger hunt; interactive, informative, and just plain fun. I’ve been fortunate to work with so many talented library people, and have great memories of planning a lot of fun activities, too.

I could continue the scavenger hunt edition of This is My Life you are currently reading, as exciting as I’m sure it is, but I’d be remiss if I didn’t note that my finest work in scavenger hunts, arguably, has been in my own home.

A military move is called a permanent change of station, or PCS, for short. We’ve PCS’d so many times (18!) that I have to go back and count every time someone asks me. The more times we moved the more adept I became. It didn’t lessen the disruption or diminish the change, but it did help with the chaos. If you want to annoy a military spouse, go ahead and say, but they pack it for you, right? They do actually pack it for you, unless you decide to do it yourself, and I was always grateful, but that’s like saying, the doctor delivers the baby, right?

 If you’ve ever hired a house cleaner you know you have to prepare before they arrive. Clean for the cleaner. My kids hated it, but it works best that way. Clear the countertops, put your stuff away. It’s no different with moving. Sure, you can move without doing that. When my kids were little, and Lee was gone a lot, we definitely moved with less prep, but I’m here to tell you, the more prep you can do, the better. You want things as organized as they can be, and you don’t want to move anything you don’t have to.

The pre-move scavenger hunt, a time-honored task of military families, is often just referred to as here we go again. Timing the pre-move scavenger hunt was key, if you started too early you might have to do it all over, start too late and you’d never get it all done. Items included paint, candles, wine, anything the packers wouldn’t move. Bonus challenge, you were never sure which items they wouldn’t move. Additional items included things we didn’t want them to move, like important papers, pet supplies. Along the way, you could get distracted and before you knew it, you’d be lost in memories. That was part of the game. While you searched, the ephemera you encountered would make you pause, remember, think. You’d spend time you didn’t have doing something you didn’t need to do, not unlike a kid cleaning their room rediscovering treasures under the bed.

I’m not moving but today’s scavenger hunt, in honor of many moves past, looked like this:

1. Medication past the expiration date

2. Something you borrowed but never returned

3. A moving sticker or price tag

4. Something that would make a temporary living situation feel like home

5. Bathroom item you don’t really like but haven’t thrown out

6. A warranty or instruction manual

7. Spice/seasoning past BEST BY date

8. A gadget you bought but have never used

9. An item you only need one of (that you have more than one of)

10. A physical item that could be replaced by an app on your phone

11. Something on your refrigerator or bulletin board

12. An item of clothing that you plan to donate, but haven’t

13. A kitchen tool that needs to be replaced

14. Something in your junk drawer that should be stored somewhere else

15. A ticket or program for an event you attended

16. An item that’s in a room where it doesn’t belong

With only two of us in the house, there aren’t as many out of place items as there used to be but this cat belongs in another room anytime I start working on a puzzle. These cat snacks, which I found on the kitchen counter, belong down by the front door so he too can get a snack when the dog goes out to pee.

17. A game you will never play or a book you will never read

18. A travel souvenir

19. An item that you’ve had for over 20 years

20. Something you wouldn’t trust anyone else to move

And now, your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to complete the scavenger hunt yourself. You don’t have to look for a fire extinguisher, or knock on your neighbor’s door, you don’t even have to leave your house. No need to send pics, this is just for you, just for fun, unless competition is more your style, then challenge someone, set a timer, and crown a winner. If so, I definitely want to hear about it. Thanks for reading and happy hunting!

1. Medication past the expiration date
2. Something you borrowed but never returned
3. A moving sticker or price tag
4. Something that would make a temporary living situation feel like home
5. Bathroom item you don’t really like but haven’t thrown out
6. A warranty or instruction manual
7. Spice/seasoning past BEST BY date
8. A gadget you bought but have never used
9. An item you only need one of (that you have more than one of)
10. A physical item that could be replaced by an app on your phone
11. Something on your refrigerator or bulletin board
12. An item of clothing that you plan to donate, but haven’t
13. A kitchen tool that needs to be replaced
14. Something in your junk drawer that should be stored somewhere else
15. A ticket or program for an event you attended
16. An item that’s in a room where it doesn’t belong
17. A game you will never play or a book you will never read
18. A travel souvenir
19. An item that you’ve had for over 20 years
20. Something you wouldn’t trust anyone else to move

Before you go…I feel compelled to say that we did not have a cleaner until we bought our first house. At that time I was in grad school, Lee was headed to a year long deployment to Iraq, and our kids were, well kids. We decided that if we ever wanted our floorboards to get cleaned or our ceiling fans to get dusted we were going to have to pay someone to do it, maybe I said that. Anyway, it was a good investment, we sold that house two and half years later when we moved again.