Succession planning

The recent departure of a letterboxer from the world of letterboxing in Ontario has got me thinking more about what I expect from my letterboxes in the long-term.

While I know many of my boxes will go missing (whether by muggles, wildlife, development, etc.) others will survive.  The other thing I know is that one day I will no longer be letterboxing.  Whether it's because I no longer participate in the hobby for whatever reason or because I get hit by a bus... What do I intend for my letterboxes after I leave the game?

Feel free to disagree but my feeling on letterboxes is once planted I may be the "planter" of the box but it is no longer "mine" in any real sense.  Once I planted my letterbox, I gifted it to the community.  Any maintenance I do for the box, both online and on the trail, are just a continuing gift that I have given and perhaps part of my responsibility as "planter".

As such, in the event I am no longer boxing, I have no intention of taking back that gift.  Those letterboxes will be left to be found, abandoned, or maintained as is the desire of the community after I'm gone.

Think about it this way: would we be letterboxing today if James Perrott took his jar home after he retired?

I was very sad to see that one of our Ontario letterboxers has not only left the game, but retired and deleted the clues to her long standing boxes that spanned a lot of southern Ontario.  That was her choice to make and respect that, but it still feels like a critical part of letterboxing's history in Ontario has been taken away.

For the record, if the letterboxer known as Bumble ever disappears for whatever reason... no longer finding letterboxes, no longer planting letterboxes, and not responding to communications... I hope my letterboxes continue on as part of this game - both in Ontario and wherever else my far-flung travels have taken me to plant.  Please feel free to maintain or adopt them, pass on the clues, update the boxes... even retire or pull boxes as need be when they are no longer in proper condition.

While I have no intention of leaving the game, now or in the future, I can nevertheless foresee a time when I no longer have the time or resources to play.  Perhaps I even leave the game for a while and come back. But I do intend - unequivocally - for my letterboxes to be as permanent as any letterbox is for the future benefit of letterboxing.

Post script: hmm... didn't mean to come across so grim, but nevertheless like the post and am obviously posting it anyway.  Hope this doesn't bring anyone down!  Happy trails!