I have grown up 'going camping' since I was five years old. It was what our family considered vacation time. Here I am with my younger brother Jonathan and younger sister Amy showing off our new pop-up trailer. Before we got this gem we were accustomed to tent camping. This was high living, let me tell 'ya! My parents just sold this very camper two years ago and upgraded to a trailer. They tend to hold on to items for a very, very long time.This weekend we are heading to Eufala lake for an annual family reunion. The same reunion I began going to when my mom married my step dad way back when I was only five years old. I have very good memories of playing with all my cousins, watching the adults play cards way into the night, the time I finally became old enough to play with them, the little creek that passed through our campsite where we would put up our Little People town to play for hours, the breakfast and Sunday family softball games. Also the not so good memories of the nasty bathrooms that crawled with bugs, the brown water we would spend hours playing in, the horrible storms that always came through on Memorial Day that would send us running to the bathrooms late into the night for shelter as the tornado warnings would come across the radio, Monday afternoons spent picking up every little bit of trash around the campsite which I now realize was my parents way of keeping us occupied as they packed everything up and prepared to go home.
As an adult I still enjoy camping, but it takes on a whole new meaning as a mother. I admire my mom even more as I realize the multitude of things that must be done before we even set foot at the lake. I am knee deep in packing clothes for any occasion that may arise{rain, sun, hot weather, cold weather, mud and more}, making list after list of all we may need and finalizing the menu and making sure we have all the food that will be consumed. It is a daunting task that I put more into than should be necessary, but I am crazy like that. The days leading up to leaving are overwhelming. Once we arrived at our spot and set up our tent, yes a TENT! I am able to relax. It is exciting to see my boys doing things I remember doing so many years ago. Cooper has been at the reunion since he was six months old. My younger brother is coming for the first time in forever and the boys are very excited! My younger sister is bringing her four month old to begin his tradition at the lake. It is neat to see everyone together and how much as changed over the years.
Except we are now the adults, when did that happen?!
4 comments:
That picture is of the camper we bought from Jim and Jeannie. We bought a brand new one in 1989. The one in the picture had a pump so when you turned it on, the water kept running instead of having to pump by hand like we did in the new one. That was the only advantage of the old one but I did love it!
Mom
Mom- I thought YOUR memory would be the first to go, not MINE! I totally forgot about Jim & Jennie's pop up. I do remember the water pumping. We were never allowed in the camper so you had that job all to yourself-ha!
I remember going on one of these camping trips with your family. I remember laying in our bed in the pop-up trying to listen to what the adults where talking about as they played cards:) I never really thought I would grow into liking camping since my family never went...but John loves it and so does Bailey. We will be taking Ben for the first time in a few weeks:)
oh the pop up. laying in bed with me, braxton, shelby, and kylee.. with jennah and jackson on the "table bed".. that was a good nights sleep.
-meridith
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