For weeks my youngest son asked me over and over if I was going on the Cub Scout camping trip. Okay, in my mind I really like the idea of camping, getting back to nature. The reality of getting dirty, smelling like campfire, and sleeping on an air mattress in the cold in a damp tent is far from the beautiful experience I have in my mind. But he batted his big eyes at me and “pleeeeeeeeassssssed” me non stop till I broke down, gave in, and agreed to go. One night of suffering for his happiness wouldn’t be so bad. And, it actually turned out even better than I thought.
Okay, chaos makes me nervous. 25 boys ranging in ages from 6 to 10 and a lack of mothers can make for a tremendous amount of quasi supervised chaos. As a mom, I found it fascinating, watching how the dad’s pretty much let the kids run wild. Talking to my husband, he explained it as kind of like “Lord of the Flies” with “some” parental supervision. So there were only three moms (including me) on the trip, the rest were boys and dads. At the beginning of the trip I fought my impulse to control, and by the end I was able to mostly sat back and watch.
I know that my boys are young for such a short time. These moments and opportunities to create lifetime memories can slip through my hands like the sand. Looking back, I know I have missed so many of these moments already. What else is life, but moments captured and others missed and to always make the best with what we have.