My Metal Detector and Me

Ever since I was a young boy, I wanted a metal detector. I know you are picturing a little old man with white socks and penny loafers walking along the beach looking for lost change. But I think it’d be fun to find things that were lost years ago; especially old coins. But growing up in the suburbs, all I could do is walk along the beach.

And now that I am middle-aged and going through my midlife crisis, I decided to buy a metal detector. I no longer live in the suburbs but in a rural area, where 80 years ago there used to be an amusement park in the wooded area where the bungalows are now situated. My house itself is sixty years old and I think I will find some interestingstuff under all those leaves and dirt.

I decided to test my detector out in my back yard and it started beeping right by the house. Down I went and started digging the pebbles that make up the yard and down to the dirt. Nothing! Still I dug and hit the cement that the foundation of the porch must be built on. Would that stop me? No; I continued and found it! Not what I expected though. It wasn’t an old coin, but a soda tab. Not even one of those old style soda tabs, but one that you see every day.

But that’s okay. We still collect soda tabs for the Ronald McDonald House in Hershey, PA, so I just tossed my new find in the bucket with the rest of the collection.