Flecks of Gold

Share

I returned this morning from a week's vacation in Alaska. The first thing I did when I arrived home was take a shower and put on clean, dry clothes. You see, just a few hours prior to my departure, I had been panning for gold at Copper Creek. The folks there thought I was completely nuts to be out in the sleet panning gold out of the river. I was cold and wet, but I managed to find five flakes, which is more than the fellow there named David said most people find their first time out, particularly alone.

For the price of $20 and three hours of my life, it was probably a good deal. In addition to the flecks, which are worth about $0.40 on the open market, the price included the tools and instruction by David on how to get started and how to recognize real gold from the rest. It was silent except for the flow of water and the light squish of snow as it fell on my back and head. After three hours, I was frustrated enough that I gave up the adventure and realized the real lesson.

Mostly, I was dissatisfied by my search for gold not because of the gold but because the gold was all I had to show for it. I wasn't with friends or family or even with workers (who wisely decided to sit inside on chairs and watch me across the open yard). Of the vacations I recall and the memories I hold most dear, as much as I enjoy my stories and pictures and adventures, the things I treasure most are things I did with people I love, with my family. When I spoke to my dad, I told him I'd rather go on a family trip to Jackson Hole, which is a lot like Alaska but less remote, because at least then I'd be with other people I knew and loved. Life is richer when you share it.

I haven't rushed to put my small vial of stones on the shelf because they're not what I treasure about the experience. What I treasure most is the realization that, as much as I enjoy doing things, the multiplicative effect of doing things with someone else make the flecks of gold something more than shiny scrimshaw adorning the dais. Real flecks of gold in life are the memories and traditions you share with your family and on which you can have fond reminiscence, because unlike the gold I found, those cannot be taken from you. I'm not sure the gold will ever matter to anyone, but if I had found it with someone else there, we could share the memory. Many miners sent home their flecks to their family. It was so that they could share something with the people they loved. They are the ones who really hit the Mother Lode.