Summertime Camping

We leave for a week of camping on the North Shore today.

On the plus side this means disconnecting from electronics, errands, LISTS OF THINGS TO DO, and writing up curriculum. Those time suckers will be replaced with long walks on the beach, reading lazily under the shade of a tree, chatting it up with family friends, and the lovely sunset cocktail hour. Evenings I can choose to engage in card or board games or sit by the fire and watch the teens burn marshmallows and try to outdo each other in storytelling. There’s the infamous crab catching walk every other night on the beach followed by the now anticlimactic crab race. When the kids were all young it was very exciting. Now the high point for the teens is seeing if they can ditch the parents (who are focused on the youngest of the herd) and sneak off down the beach. This is especially true when the family friends all bring a “new” friend so that they can ALL experience the thrill of racing hormones. Let’s see, what would I have been more interested in at 15? Crabs running out of a bucket? Sneaking off down the beach with a pack of teens that included cute new boys? It’s such a close call I’ll have to think about it.

Watching my kids with all my friends' kids running around with a sense of freedom that is rarely attainable in modern society. Squabbles. Adventures. These kids have grown up together. They’re more like cousins than a lot of blood cousins I know.

I’m in such a mood that I forgot what the down side of camping is. I guess we’re off.