Heavy thump! Top bunk occupant has awoken. Pitter-patter, pitter-patter, soon followed by medium thump of middle bunk occupant & more pitter-patters. Whispering ensues & bottom bunk occupant emerges. The whispers verge on the brink of actual voice audibility with shushes & other orders issued by the oldest sibling, he is all of almost 8 after all!
Their daddy & I follow suit, whispering amongst ourselves. Discussion of breakfast ideas, how we slept (ha ha) & so on. Daddy dons a red cape & takes the lead getting up & prepping boys for the day, taking dogs out, firing up the generator & so on. When he had whispered to me he had coffee & sugar & creamer I had to burst with glee "Oh, I love you!!" My hero!! After I had unwillingly gone through caffeine detox - no soda or coffee - for over a week.
Boys begging for M&Ms, marshmallows & other non-breakfast items settle for bacon & eggs instead. I hear our nearly 8 year old say, "I think Mommy is a Bed-Zombie because she won't wake up". He is right, I am a Bed-Zombie, just not always sleeping, often longing for sleep with legs fidgeting & my mind wandering. Husband reports snow has melted quite a bit over night -Thank God! It's too bad the other family did not stay, having left late in the evening. I ask why Husband has not taken us camping in the summer - his smirky reply is "..because I don't like bugs." I'm still in bed with a robe on for added warmth, thinking the bugs are smarter than we are.
After breakfast & layering everyone in thermals, 2 pairs of socks, sweatshirts, coats & hiking boots we drove to the trail to the lake where my husband has come to fish for about 20 years. Now, for the first time his wife & sons were introduced to the spot. I notice deer-hunters' foot-prints in the snow, they had been here the day before. I found it highly amusing that there now lay deer tracks weaving through their boot imprints. Then we found bear tracks. I was a bit concerned that lack of common sense kept us from changing direction rather than continuing on in our jaunt to the lake, the same direction the bear seemed to have gone before us. The fact that our dogs seemed totally unconcerned helped me feel a smidgen better, since fishing poles, folding chairs & a pocket knife seemed inadequate resources to fight off a bear if need be.
My hips ached, my arms burned with pain from carrying just a few items, including a tote bag with medicine, camera & notepad, etc. Stopping frequently & as if a child in the backseat of a station-wagon I kept asking "are we there yet?" between panting breaths. It was, thankfully, a fairly wind-free day & the sun even pushed its way through the clouds from time to time. The shore was sandy with tiny bits of snow mingled in. No sooner had we arrived then there were echoing comments uttered in slightly whiny little boy voices, "I'm bored" "I'm hungry" "Can we go back to the camper now?" "Can we go home?" Like militant soldiers we issued answers & doled out provisions. Camp Robbers, also called Gray-Jays came to keep us company. They swooped in to eat cracker pieces I purposely dropped for them. They kept our dogs highly amused & busy chasing them away, even the boys got in on the action. Our 6 year old remarked that we were catching more birds than fish. I had to laugh at the validity of the statement, but mind you it hadn't been long. The birds were using the fishing rods as perches. Becoming quite comfortable with us a gray jay landed on my head starling me as I uttered "don't poop" & sending my husband into deep laughter. I was so grateful for the still air that was almost warm as the sun kept trying to push its way through the clouds. The quiet was so comforting to my soul, as was the chair for my exhausted, worn out body. About 45 minutes after lunch the first rainbow trout was caught & about 40 minutes after that a second. Each time it was as if Mother Nature was giving us a nod of approval - the sun shone warmly down on us, the campfire took hold, a Gray-Jay landed on my foot & on my lap. The kids were curious about the fish continuing to flop in the gunny-sack. Even the bait seemed more lively than I at this point. It wriggled through the dirt with ease & agility. I know something is wrong when I'm jealous of fishing bait's liveliness! Cloud formations made me wish that fibro-brain-fog hadn't erased so much of what I had once learned. I had read a book on symbolism but forgotten it. As I wondered what first an eagle, a horse, a fish & a deer represented, as I made the clouds out to be in these formations.
The day wore on without laundry woes nor dishes nor video games, it was lovely. Just note to any city-dwellers, when roughing it on an outing in the woods & needing to squat, to take care of business, it is important to first note the lay of the land. Make sure neither foot is on the downhill slope. As a trivia bonus I will also tell you that toilet paper is avidly referred to as "mountain money" having an elevated status as a luxurious multi-purposeful necessity, being used for runny noses & dirty hands as well. The fishing was at a lull but the boys found a frog & the dogs kept busy on chipmunk & squirrel patrol. We took a different trail back to the truck & I was given more help in carrying items, plus it was downhill, yea! At one point a large tree had fallen across the trail, we had to climb over it. Our smallest family member hollered out as he struggled over it, "Think dis a bad idea guys!" but managed to continue on. A bit further on he declared "Wow, dat pretty "mazing!" over something he saw along the way. Our 6 1/2 year old was eager to carry the bag of fish, which is good because I wasn't! He kept singing "We got 2 rainbow trout" over & over in various formats ending with a rap rendition. He then stated that the fish were hard to carry because 1 kept slapping his leg. A moment later he confidently proclaimed "there, I made them dizzy by running, now they aren't slapping me any more" A short time after this he asks, "Mom, are bears real?" I said yes & he asked why one hadn't come to eat him since he's carrying fish & Bears eat fish. I said the bear must have had other things to do today & we're lucky! After stopping to fetch (not buy) firewood, we came back to our make-shift home: camper, circus-tent-canopy ( the tarp over the table) & what our friends had deemed "the French Quarter" due to our old exterior house lights which my husband recycled onto stands to use for out-door camp - lighting. Oh, & last but not least, our child size zoo animal bench. The boys were fearful of their marshmallow roasting status with the fire off to a dull start so Dad appeased them & tickled them silly by pouring "girl-scout juice" (aka: gasoline) on it with blazes roaring in response. The boys found it fun to set a round of wood for Dad to split then carry & stack it, I'm sure if it was a more regular ritual the fun would wear off quickly but for now, thankfully, they enjoyed helping out. Crash kept saying something we were trying to understand & finally got it right. He saw the sparks from the fire & was calling them fire-midges! Midges are like gnats & in mass quantity in the summer where we live.
Seeing my husband in his element was like seeing a whole different person. It's hard to be who we really are when we work a zillion hours then habitually meld into the couch in exhaustion. It also is difficult to be our true selves when we are wracked with pain. Although today's event's have devastating consequences on my health, I'm glad to have witnessed first hand the making of these memories.
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