Of Butterflies and Letterboxes

One of our family’s favorite pastimes is letterboxing. It’s this marvelous combination of hiking and treasure-hunting rolled into one adventure. The kids barely notice that we’ve hiked two (or more) miles because the hunt for the letterbox is so exciting. A friend turned us on to it last summer and we’ve had several adventures in various places – mostly in Ohio but we usually do a box or two whenever we travel so we have stamps from Colorado and Kentucky and Mississippi and Tennessee now too.

One recent excursion reminded me of how delightful the simple things can be. We were traveling and had planned a day-trip into Memphis, TN. So, we thought we’d find a letterbox on the way. Our trip into Memphis was pretty cool. We had ribs and fried pie at the Blues City Cafe, relished in the history of Beale Street, rode the trolley through town, saw the ducks in the opulent Peabody lobby, and walked along the redeveloped Mud Island.

But, do you know we all enjoyed most about the day? It wasn’t any of those things. It was our letterboxing adventure that morning – our hike along the Wolf River Nature area in Germantown.

Just a few steps onto the trail and we were greeted by tons of butterflies. So many that the flowers and bushes looked like they were moving. Really. It was amazing. There were several types and colors. One butterfly landed on Madison’s arm and stayed there for at least half-an-hour as we walked the trail. Maddie was absolutely beside herself with delight.

Caleb was our lizard spotter – several little blue-tailed guys skittered all along the trail as we walked. And one larger, brown one walked right across the trail in front of him. (Of course, Maddie noticed none of this because she was so focused on her butterfly friend.) We saw plants we don’t have in Ohio. And birds that I’ve never seen in Ohio. And several turtles sunning on logs in the bayou. We laughed and talked and explored and enjoyed the creativity of our God in yet another fresh way.

It was a moment I wouldn’t trade for all the Peabody hotels or Beale Streets in the world. And those things were pretty cool.

ps – for more info about letterboxing, be sure to check out www.atlasquest.com.