Why, you ask?
Because I woke up one morning and said to myself, “Self — Your life is disturbingly deficient in chaos at the moment… I know! Let’s plan a summer camping trip! You know — hours upon hours of gluten-free menu planning, tube-feeds without running water, barf bags, taking that ten-mile drive back into town just to hang out at the local laundromat… It’ll be a hoot!”
That’s called a joke around my place.
Actually, we decided as a family that we are long overdue for a vacation. Last time we went on a real vacation that involved more than a couple of nights and/or didn’t involve a medical trip was eight years ago — pre kids.
Our six-year-old (who between the ages of zero and five had 27 surgical procedures) doesn’t even know what a vacation is. I tried to explain it to her…
“It’s where you pack a suitcase and go someplace fun for a week or two.”
She gave me a puzzled look, and then flashed me an excited grin. “Oh! I know jess wat you mean! You mean like wen we pack-ded up evvy-fing an’ went to see Dr. W an’ his special hoz-piddle in Yoo Nork City!”
Nineteen days in a pediatric intensive care unit in a strange city. Sure. Sounds like a vacation to me.
I rubbed my temples as my eldest child piped up with another attempt to define the elusive concept of never-before-experienced leisure time. “Oh, Oh!! Now I know! You mean like wen we went-ded to see Dr. P and stop-ded to see that pretty waterfall on the way there an’ my little bruvver got mad an’ frew up all oh-ber Daddy!”
See what I mean? We need a vacation. All of us.
However, the economy being what it is and our post-medical-bills budget being how it is, we are left with shall we say, limited vacation options. Namely camping. As in tent. As in campfire. As in outside.
I like camping — well at least I used to. Back when we didn’t have children. When we didn’t know what reflux was. Back when we had no idea how to perform an emergency G-tube replacement and thought that CVS was only the name of a pharmaceutical chain.
I’m hoping I still like camping.
I’m hoping that this summer my kids get to make up for a little lost time. I’m hoping that we will all have a great time outdoors doing something that doesn’t involve a waiting room. I’m hoping that by going to the trouble of packing things like homemade gluten-free graham crackers, Prilosec tablets, a spare 14 fr 1.2cm Mic-Key button, decompression tubes, barf bags, extra shirts, and that “just-in-case” supply of Neocate Junior formula with gravity Kangaroo bags — I’m hoping that it will all be worth it.
Because I’m nothing, if not an optimist!
Have any tales you want to tell about your family camping experiences? I’m all ears!
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