Geocachers get together every year in an event called GeoWoodstock. It’s usually scheduled in May, alternating between the West Coast and the East Coast. Two years ago, I planned to go to the celebration when it was held in Kentucky. The universe had other plans that time and I couldn’t go. My spouse’s truck had a major breakdown and we weren’t sure if it was going to be fixable.

This year, with the event set for this upcoming weekend in West Virginia, I was also planning to go. The Mets are in Boston tonight, playing the Red Sox. My plan was to go to the game tonight, then drive out to West Virginia for all the events which begin on Thursday and stretch through Sunday. I had packed almost everything except my last-minute stuff yesterday. I’d bought food for quick bites and sandwiches along the way.

The universe had other plans.

You’re looking at a picture of where the deck was on the back of the house. Twenty years ago now, we had the house built here, and the deck was added on at our back door. Last night, my husband, Marc, went to walk out onto the deck to start the new Blackstone our daughter had bought as an early Father’s Day gift. I was in the living room. I heard a very loud crash. I got up to see what had happened, and could immediately see out of our kitchen windows that there was no more deck.

Immediately, I opened the back door, but didn’t step out. Above is the sight that greeted me. Everything in the picture below the green canoe was stored under the deck. The green canoe had been hanging under the deck. You can see where it took some damage on the right side. We don’t know why, but it appears the deck became disconnected from the house and went over the edge to the bottom part of our yard, where the kids’ playthings are.

Luckily, Marc had just been stepping onto the deck. You can see part of his leg at the bottom right of the picture. He basically slid down the cement foundation and landed in sand/dirt that was under the deck. I asked if he was okay, and thankfully, he answered me. I said he needed to be checked out, and he said he’d drive himself to the hospital. I told him absolutely not, and I was calling 911. Being in a rural area, it took them about fifteen minutes to get here. Meanwhile, he didn’t move. I was worried about his neck, back, and pelvis. It was too difficult to get to him and get out, especially with what we had stored under there that now looked like a pile of junk.

He was taken to the hospital, and I followed. There, all they found were abrasions on his back and left arm, and his left pinky finger was chipped on the bone. It was a miracle he wasn’t hurt worse. Even today, looking at it, we keep saying how lucky he was. If he had been further out on the deck and gone down with it, there’s a good chance he would have been seriously or fatally injured.

So, not only am I missing the Mets-Red Sox game tonight at Fenway, but I’m also going to miss GeoWoodstock. The orthopedic doctor didn’t have a follow-up appointment until Wednesday for Marc, and now I’m dealing with adjusters for the homeowners’ insurance claim. I was so looking forward to my first GeoWoodstock. They have an amazing number of geocaches out in Morgantown, West Virginia, with more being added this week, plus a series of 600 adventure labs at one of the rest areas. It would have been my first Giga-event (more than 5000 people attending) and my first geo-maze as well as other events I was looking forward to.

I guess we’ll see where they have GeoWoodstock in 2 years when it’s back on the East Coast. For now, I’m grateful Marc wasn’t hurt badly, and it happened when none of the kids were out there as well. Things can be replaced. Different memories can be made. But you can’t bring people back once they’re gone.