So Where Has HeadHardHat Been?

Ever Have One Of THOSE Years?

Hey fellow readers, viewers and geocaching enthusiasts. Well, judging by the slew of requests to my lack of postings, tweets, statuses and episodes of Geocaching World and Geocaching Podcast people are wondering what is going on with the Ole HeadHardHat.

I wish it was because I won that Internet lottery I keep getting emails about and have been taking the past few weeks off sitting on some Caribbean beach somewhere. That would be awesome but unfortunately untrue. The fact is I have had a rather brutal year this year. Even worse than last year believe it or not where I had to endure 9 months of unemployment.  Shiver, let's not even open that can of worms. No this year alone I found out a close family member was pregnant way too early in her young life. In a matter of three months I almost bought my home, found out after dragging forever that I then could not purchase my home. Was going to rent said home for a year until I could then purchase the home, only to find to the owner lost the home and I had to move out in two weeks. Believe it or not that was not as much fun as it sounded. Next my father passed away earlier in the year. Completely unexpected and out of state to boot. I really miss you Dad. Lessee, then the rest of this year I dealt with the pregnancy, the birth and the adoption that followed. Oh and don't forget issues and drama with my children that turned up several healthy notches. Phew.

Now that all of that is behind me my divorce is in mid October. I swore that i never was going to get divorsed. That i would be the one to beat the odds, funny how life reminds you of how little we control.

With all of this for the bulk of this year I had to keep the cool and clam front. Never being able to waiver because of so many others were hanging on and wanting me to help them through it all. For most of the year I was able to do it. Keeping myself strong by not putting too much thought into the reality that was all around. Knowing that if I cracked only chaos and more drama would be the result.
I needed a break - big time. So I took a few weeks off and let all the frustrations of the year flow off. Well as much as possible anyway. There are always more things to take care of  but that is what happens when you are a single parent. It was just a good thing for me to kick back for a couple of weeks and recharge. I do feel more focused and even though not all of the pain is gone I at least feel I can keep going again. Now I am ready to take on my hobbies again and looking forward to it. So if I am still a little lacks in the amount of social interaction with everyone you will at least know why. Don't worry. I will be going strong before you know it.

Thanks for being there!

Andy Headhardhat Smith