Going to camp

Well I did something last weekend that I have not done in over 30 years. I went to girl scout
camp. I kinda dreaded this. Tim is still not 100% after getting over the flu and cold that followed
and my mom also got sick and wound up in the hospital with a severe asthmatic reaction to the
bronchitis she had. Plus it was a lot of work and I was beat from just getting over the same illnesses myself. I was up in the air about going but decided to do it for Olivia. Turns out
I probably got as much out of it as her. I went up with my best buddy of 30 some odd years and
her daughter as well as 2 other GS moms I like a lot. We had a lot of laughs, a couple
of rough patches, but a successful trip overall. It was a spa weekend where we did Yoga, Reiki
and all sorts of self-help/exploration stuff and it was fun. Sunday was the 2 year anniversary of
the day I had to tell Tim that he had cancer so it was a good weekend to get away and try not to
dwell on that. On Friday night though, I ate my dinner outside while sitting on my cell phone
having a teleconference with Brian Durie M.D. put on by the IMF and Celgene. I actually got through during the Q & A part and got to ask my question. MM is never far from my
mind unfortunately but it was a "not to be missed" opportunity. Back to the
trip, I realized what great memories my daughter will have of it. I still recall stuff from my girl
scout trips. Things like floods that made us have to go home, latrines that were unbearable.
Good times! We stayed in slightly better accomodations this time though. I realized that if I
ever had to be camping with a female though, I would pick me! I am a handy girl to have around. This time it was stopped up toilets. I'm not fond of bending down by public toilets and turning off valves, plunging, and clearing blocked crappers but I am a "do what ya gotta do" kinda girl and most women know nothing about this stuff. I was chief navigator, spider slayer, plumber and assistant enforcer
of discipline with the girls on this trip and got several e-mails from the other moms yesterday thanking me for this.
I'm not sure this won't be one of those "no good deed goes unpunished" type deals cause I may
be conned into going on all the trips now, OY! but there's just nothing like making memories.
I think the greatest thing my parents ever did was buy a trailer and haul us all over the place
including a 2 month stint in the summer of '77 all the way across country and back. That trip
made for many priceless memories. I will never forget a science teacher that fall teaching my
class about some of the natural phenomena in the west like the hot springs, mud pots, geysers
and such. I kept raising my hand to add to the information he was reading out of the book.
He finally asked me how I knew all this stuff and I told him I had just returned from going
across country with my family and saw all of it. I will never forget that teacher going speechless and standing with his mouth open. I realized then how very lucky I was to have
seen all this at 12 years old. Many people never see it at all. One dream I have is to
do it again with Tim and Olivia. I'd love my parents to come too. I sure hope we can.