Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Closing the book on Camping


by Magnolia

I guess one good thing about my recent camping experience is that it has brought me back to Chicken Fried Therapy. And Junior and Little E had the time of their lives. And I was surrounded by great friends. Another good thing is that I can now say for certain that I will NEVER go camping again. I’m just too old and sleeping bags are way too confining.

I can blame the Boy Scouts of America for this. Junior has claimed that he intends to be an Eagle Scout one day so I could not avoid the campout any longer. Our den leader kindly reminded me that Junior could not cross over into Boy Scouts until he completes a campout with his den. No Boy Scout crossover means no Eagle Scout. I certainly didn’t need that hanging over my head. Mothers are blamed for enough already.

So I made the official announcement that I would be attending the campout. The shock and disbelief from everyone was not really that encouraging until my dear friend reminded me that I did Outward Bound in college and only ate butter for 3 days so surely I could camp one night. The butter part isn’t exactly true, but my memory was jolted back to a time when I was a lot tougher and a great deal more low maintenance. That is if you call peeing off the side of a boat and not showering for 3 weeks low maintenance.

Armed with my refreshed memory, I borrowed some killer camping equipment, made some chili and set out for the campsite. I took the jokes about my 3 room tent in stride and had a smile on my face the whole time. I loved the campfire, roasting marshmallows and just being together. But I just can’t sleep in a sleeping bag on the ground.

So I’m not sure where this puts me on the scale of low to high maintenance. It’s over. I did it, and I bet I could still pee off the side of a boat...if my life depended on it.

3 comments:

jami said...

You were great, Magnolia. I'm glad you showed the picture of us shivering around the fire. You know I share your penchant for being a high maintenance girl and never even believed God would give me sons, much less camp with them. I hope you've added a feather bed or TempurPedic layer to your mattress this week because I don't know about you, but my hip bones still hurt!

Chick said...

air mattress. can't go camping at this age without an air mattress!! we camp with friends at Springfest (music festival) and their air mattress is so deluxe you can sit on the edge and put on your shoes like a normal bed!

Legally Blonde said...

Welcome back Magnolia! Chick and I could hardly sleep on the bunk beds at camp when we went back a couple of years ago. We used to sleep on them for 6 weeks at a time!