My First and Only Camping Trip

In my wildest dreams, I never thought I would end up on a camping trip out in the middle of the wilderness with lions, tigers, bears and my sons.  Just the three of us and ten other small boys.

I am not  an outdoor person in any way shape or form.  I cannot climb a tree.  Fishing might as well be an Olympic sport and beyond comprehension.  I am allergic to anything that flies and is in the bee, wasp, yellow jacket or hornet family.  Sun bathing makes me break out in hives.  Ants love to have me for dinner.  I am allergic to poison oak, poison ivy, poison sumac and any other type of outdoor plant that will make someone break out.  And maybe even some that do not.  But my husband died suddenly when my sons were very young.  Trying to be both Mom and Dad suddenly motivated me to say yes all too often.

When my sons wanted to join boy scouts, I said yes.  When no one volunteered to be the scoutmaster, I said yes to being drafted as the den mother.  Little did I know what lie ahead.  I had no idea that camping would be part of the deal.  The thought of me in the woods with large live animals was appalling.  Waiting for the movie was simply not an option.  This was not going to be pleasant.

So off to the store for supplies we went.  Fishing gear, lanterns, tents, outdoor eating kits and an inflatable air bed.  Yes you read it correctly, an inflatable air bed.  I may get stung and bitten.  I may become tired and scared by animals.  But I was not giving up being comfortable while sleeping. 

We caught some fish and cut ourselves trying to scale them.  I knew men were good for something.  We sang songs around the campfire.  We hiked until we could no longer walk or even take another step.  We told ghost stories and scared each other.  We stayed up half the night laughing.  But to this day my sons always tell the story of their first camping trip featuring the tidbit of how Mom embarrassed them by bringing an inflatable air bed.  If the truth be known we all three slept on the inflatable air bed that night.  Meanwhile, two empty sleeping bags also occupied our tent.  After that, I learned to say no a little more often.