Just wanted to wish all of my friends a Happy New Year and to pass along the word that I will probably not be blogging any more of my letterboxing adventures. A comment was made to me a few days ago that I am not respected because I hunt too many boxes and don't plant enough so I have made a New Year's resolution that I will no longer log any of my finds nor will I blog them. Doesn't mean that I will give up boxing though, I do love it so much and need the diversion from problems in my personal life. However, the comment stung and if my way of boxing bothers others, I will now keep it private.
I also think, although I haven't totally settled this in my mind, that any boxes that I DO plant will now be WOM only, and will be distributed to those whom I feel will appreciate them the most. Call me elitist if you wish - but I am now going to play my game, my way.
After recently having the elitist title throw at me, I can respect that you want to change how you play. I have enjoyed your letterboxes and hope to seek many more in the future. More than that, I hope to go letterboxing again with you soon. Your friendship means a lot to me and my family.
ReplyDeleteThat makes me sad. I really enjoyed reading your blog! I will truly miss reading your adventures of boxing.
ReplyDeleteHope we have another adventure soon! Your friendship means a lot to me too!
PP
You know, that is nonsense. DON'T let others rule how you wish to box. There is nothing wrong with hunting more boxes then planting. Jeez, there are so many out there, I know I could never hope to keep up with those who do plant.
ReplyDeleteI personally take great joy in reading your blog, and visit often.
Who was it, I'll give 'em a piece of my mind!
Sorry to hear this. I too have enjoyed reading your blog (even before we were part of it). I hope we get the chance to meet you.
ReplyDeleteStonefly of 4Rhines
Dear Janila,
ReplyDeleteIsn’t it a fascinating time when something comes along in life and literally propels us in a completely different direction? Sometimes that event is so outside the box that we could never have dreamed it up for ourselves...but seemingly fate brought it to us.
It happened to me one day, when a friend of mine came to visit us for Thanksgiving in 1998 and told me about this strange new thing called Letterboxing started by an article in the Smithsonian Magazine. At that time there were only a few letterboxes in the US and none near me. So, being intrigued by the whole idea, I decided to place a letterbox. I carved that stamp in December 1998 after I had written a 7-page story for the clues. Now you cannot believe what went on over that letterbox. That story created a lot of friction and controversy. That was certainly never my intent. That was certainly NOT what I had expected to occur. If I had known it would cause such a stir, I most likely would never have done it in the first place. In fact, I probably would have taken the box out and never followed through to get the clues posted on the web site if I hadn’t gone out in an ice storm to place the darn thing! It was a cold winter that year.
But there was something greater than I was going on at the time. I didn’t understand it then. The controversy that story created resulted in the understanding that people coming to this hobby need to be free to do whatever moves them in how they go about placing and finding letterboxes and participating in the hobby. Those of us who were involved in it at that time all had different ideas of what that would be.
The same thing that happened to me also happened to you and thousands of others of all ages. One day our lives took one of those strange turns and we all entered the world of Letterboxing. We all brought something to the hobby that is uniquely us. Letterboxing is not an Olympic event with all the controls and rules in place. It’s a hobby that allows you to be whoever you are and have as much fun as you want with it. You get to do it your way without restriction.
Now I find it fascinating that I happened to see a link to your blog tonight and I clicked on it. This is quite rare for me. The first thing I saw was your red note of frustration. THAT caught my attention for sure and pulled my heartstrings as I recalled that first agonizing couple of months that it took to get my clues posted. Did I mention that not a single person who lived near us understood what I was so excited about? My friends and family thought I had truly gone insane! So I staid a while with you in the spirit of your Blog and browsed through this wonderful creation that you have shared with the world.
I’m so glad that I didn’t let the stinging controversy over my story stop me short in my tracks. I don’t know where you will be going with all this. But I can see very clearly in your Blog that you and I share something that no person with careless cynicism can ever take away from us. We created something that brought us GREAT JOY! Thank you so much for sharing yours. – rae record
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Number of boxes placed since 1998 – FOUR – number of boxes found – dunno and don’t care – number of boxes that I had lots of fun with – Every single one of them! : )