Metal Detecting Redux - Looking Back

Only a few days left of 2018 before we inexorably move into 2019 as we quickly approach the end of the second decade of the 21st Century. As I look back over the last 50 or so years of being in the metal detecting hobby, I realize the real riches I uncovered were not gold and silver, cash and relics, but friendships and comradeship with people from all walks of life. I've met many people I would never have met otherwise thru the articles I'd written, the events I attended and the clubs I'd belonged to. I've seen the good the bad and the ugly of this hobby from top to bottom, the newbies, the know-it-alls, the boasters, and the wannabes. One thing I've learned, though, is everyone has a dream, and treasure hunting fulfills that dream. And believe it or not, some are successful in finding that chest of gold, and while some are not, many finally realize that what they were really searching for was always theirs to begin with...good friends, a sense of adventure, and a grasp on the past.  Because in the end, all the amazing relics, artifacts, and numismatic specimens have one thing in common; they were touched by another human being at some point in the past, who lived a different and perhaps unimaginable life in a another time and place. When you examine a fresh-dug find in your hand, you erase all the miles and centuries and touch the hand of someone in the past. We humans are a despicable, good, horrible, caring, indifferent, friendly, idiotic, knowledgeable, warm, creative and trouble-making lot. But we are all in this together throughout time through our humanity and the touch of an ancient work of humanity is what links us all together and makes us remember. And that is the covalent bond that holds us all together in this hobby. Happy 2019!

Happy 2019 from Jim & Patti