My Little Camper

Tonight is the eve of our journey to E’s first two-week summer camp experience. We chose Mystic as her home for the coming weeks and I may be more excited than her to see it. Mrs. Lehman, one of my guardian angels and the motivation behind this blog, always spoke of Camp Mystic’s beauty and the magic of the Guadalupe River. I will not be with E for 14 days but I know she will not be alone. In addition to my angel, Mrs. Lehman (I have asked her to hang close to E), one of E’s closest friends will be joining her at the camp. So she will not be alone but she will not be with me, or any family members (gulp).

Like any good working mother of two, I dropped some balls and did not get done all that needs to be done before we leave tomorrow. Today she and I endured all the ugly traffic of Austin, Texas, the August heat and bad parking jobs to try and complete our checklist. I get why people hate driving here. I do not who failed who: the electorate or the city government but Austin, we have issues. Anyway, we went in and out of stores looking for the necessities that fell through the cracks. I do not remember who thought horseback riding was a good choice for a camp activity but preparing for that one session has neither been fun or cheap. In summary, today was tiring, expensive and not fun. Did I mention the heat?

At each store, we parked, locked the car and E found her way by my side and without thought grabbed my hand. We held hands all day. My first reaction was to shake her off because it was hot (really hot) and our hands were sweaty but I saw she was undeterred. The realization lasted only a second but I looked down at her and decided she can hold my hand as long as she is willing to do so. I am lucky that at 9 years old she not only wants to be by my side but she wants to hold my hand.

Saturday night she will be sleeping in a bunk and far away from my protection. Sunday morning she will wake, dress, eat and walk to chapel under her own direction. Her friend will be in her cabin and she would be willing to hold hand if needed but I doubt E will try. Secretly I hope she won’t try. Secretly I hope she reserves that for me, at least for now.

Tonight we are packing and E and her brother are fighting. I think her annoyance with him is a defense mechanism for her to not miss him as much but maybe that is wishful thinking on my part. I am doing a lot of wishful thinking these days.

Please keep E in your thoughts and prayers. Peace.