Shannon Stacey


And yet we camp anyway

To follow up my camping DON’Ts, I’ll do my camping DOs, because temporary blindness and exploding beer bottle & bug spray rockets are just a small part of it.

When camping:

DO laugh with your husband when he pulls back into camp on his 4-wheeler like a little boy, muddy and wet and telling stories about getting stuck and flying over rocks and how much “nut” his new machine has, because he’s fresh off a 60-hour work week, and the scheduling says he’ll hit 70 this week.

DO take time from trying to be a full-time mom, full-time home office manager and full-time professional writer to sit with your friend, who has a day and half free from the full-time job with commute she works while keeping up with a husband and two grown sons to sit and play Scrabble and giggle together over all the naughty words you can spell.

DO sit and close your eyes and know that hours away your house still holds ringing phones, jammed fax machines, lost permission slips, misplaced blueprints, book edits, comma addictions, unanswered emails, and a full calendar and know that there’s not a damn thing you can do about it right now. Bask in the “No service” signal on your cell phone.

DO laugh with your children when they want to hear more stores and play horseshoes and run around the playground and splash in mud puddles and find good marshmallow sticks, because they probably hear “Not right now. I’m busy.” even more than they hear “I love you.”

DO have a roaring campfire to sit around. The best, funniest, most memorable stories are told around a campfire, and nary a “Shannon did you…” in sight.

And, of course, DO bring extra bug spray, because the neighbor’s son will pour yours into the beer bottle and stick it in the fire.

6 comments to “And yet we camp anyway”

  1. Anna Lucia
    Comment
    1
      · June 20th, 2005 at 12:38 pm · Link

    Ah, but I love camping. We don’t get to go nearly enough anymore, and I long for the peace and the simplicity, the basicness of it.

    Plus you have to huddle together for warmth. :nookie:



  2. cece
    Comment
    2
      · June 20th, 2005 at 1:50 pm · Link

    Awwwwwwwwww what a great list of do’s! Sounds like ya’ll had a great time despite adventures in bug repellent! :dance:



  3. Beth C
    Comment
    3
      · June 20th, 2005 at 1:58 pm · Link

    Ditto to Cece’s “Awwwww.” That was a SWEET and amusing post, Shannon. Yay for camping. Yay for taking time out to appreciate ‘life’. :cheer:



  4. Kate
    Comment
    4
      · June 20th, 2005 at 4:25 pm · Link

    so what happens to the bug spray?



  5. THIS! Christine
    Comment
    5
      · June 20th, 2005 at 4:36 pm · Link

    Thanks Shannon. both your DOs, DON’Ts and even the DH calling every 10 minutes, remind me of the joys, drawbacks, and frustrations involved in camping. Being a 5 star pampered princess it took me some time to appreciate the great outdoors, but now I do. It’s one of the few places my DH totally relaxes. His mind switches to stuff that doesn’t involve business and the next deal or problem facing him.

    X



  6. Shannon
    Comment
    6
      · June 20th, 2005 at 11:42 pm · Link

    The bug spray gets hot, apparently pressurizes or something, blows the cap sky high (we have NO idea where it went) and then shoots flames out of the bottle. Must upload those damn pictures.

    And relaxation is the key. (I’m repressing thoughts of the pre-camping preparations and the post-camping debris.) It is nice, though. Eventually we might even try some other campgrounds, but this one is one of the very, very few that allows ATVs. Two more are rumored to be coming, though. :woot:







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