Do You Remember Where You Put Your Shit?

My father has been gone for over 5 years now. It doesn't seem that long, but time is slipping away all the same. There are many things dad just took care of for myself, my brother and my mom. This thanksgiving I was back to my mom's place, the 3 of us together, along with my own family, when I was told of a very septic situation. The septic tank needed to be emptied, my dad had taken care of it during the last year of his life with us, and we had waited far too long since. Everything was lined up, the truck was coming to suck out all the waste, we just needed to dig up the septic tank.

Here came the problem; my dad was the only one of us who knew where it was and had always been the one to locate it. I had dug it up more than a few times in my life, but I can't say I ever paid much attention to where it was. Dad pointed, I dug. It was that easy.

So we surveyed the yard, and the area it should be.
After much debate and consideration of the septic tank location, we did the next logical thing we thought, dig. My brother began the search process, dig down until we hit the cement of the septic tank, and if we don't hit it, move over a bit and keep digging. How long could that take, really?
A first hole was dug. . . .
and dug quite deep I might add.

But there was no cement, no tank. So we dug another hole. . . .

And another. . . .

My son even stepped in to help.

But still no septic tank to be found. Somewhere around here frustration sets in, arguments about location and who remembers what. Did we go deep enough? Was it further down the yard? We were getting tired of digging and not really making any progress, when the idea hits my brother. Put a bounty on the septic tank. Just find it. 50$ to anyone that can find it.

Word spread quickly to neighbours, and as the wanted septic tank story become known, they came.

and then the real digging started,

Trying any new location in a frantic search to find the prize.

And more came.

And more.

Everyone worked very hard, digging deep in search of the prized septic tank. With turkey dinner rapidly approaching, the search took on a furious pace.

digging deep,

More people showed up to try their luck and joined the search.

And the digging continued.

But to no avail.

it seemed the wily septic tank would continue to evade us,

when a neigbour joined that had helped my dad clear a pipe to the septic tank once, and had a pretty good memory as to where it was.

He hit it on his first try, exposing the concrete lids of he septic tank in a matter of minutes.

mission accomplished. . . .

Lesson learned? Well I probably should have been paying attention the last 3 or 4 times we dug it up, but with my dad gone, I realize I will have to fend for myself, not just for septic tank hunting, but all other challenges in life. Planning ahead with this new found awareness, I did what anyone would do, mark the area with my GPS and archive the data to a searchable documents archive. 4 years from now I run a search on septic tank location, hit this, and the GPS co-ordinates. I will keep the GPS info so I can be standing over the septic tank if we ever need to again, and I keep this story so time no longer slips away. It's time to remember where I put my shit.