My Dad's Ankh

Sept 29, 2005 This TB has accomplished its goal and is no longer in circulation. I have it.

Story Behind This TB:
My Dad had a dream to travel to Ireland before he died. He didn’t make it.
Send us to Ireland, photographing places along the way. We would like to be returned to a geocache in the San Francisco Bay Area, California.

This is my favorite photo of my Dad and me on a two week long camping trip in the Four Corners area (Utah, Nevada, New Mexico, and Arizona). If you look closely, you can see my Dad wearing an ankh around his neck. He wore it for as long as I can remember.

My Dad was interested in Egyptian mythology as a teenager so I suppose that is why he wore it. Later on, as he grew older he must have integrated its meaning into his interfaith belief systems. I don't recall any deep conversations about it so I can only guess what it meant to him. I looked up the definition and found that the ankh symbolizes life after death so naturally I am rather comforted by seeing it now.

One of his last desires was to visit his "roots" based in Ireland. I am thinking maybe we can still do that through this travel bug. I like the thought that he still lives on in some way by being passed from hand to hand. He would have loved to have read about your journeys with geocaching :-) PS: Our last name is "Aldridge" and his mom's last name was "Carnahan."

July 27,2004
So far exceptional people have helped this TB move and have enriched its experience. My sister and I are really touched by everyone's efforts. When this TB comes back to me I plan to make a handmade book featuring these logs and the people who wrote them. I will interweave their lives with the story of my Dad's life. When I am done I plan to scan the book and turn it into a cache!

By the way, I would like Dad to visit at least ten caches in Ireland before coming home, but not isolated ones. Hopefully, he won't get stranded anywhere too long.

Thanks a million! :-)

September 05,2004
My dad has made it to Ireland where he wanted to go!!! Thank you all, you dear hearts, who made this possible. Now we want to tour Ireland and see the sights. My Dad would absolutely love this :-)

September 29th, 2005
Our goal has been accomplished and we are now ready to come back to the USA.