Sometimes I just need to brain dump. This post is one of those times.

I am 40 years old. I came to age during a time when cynicism ruled. There was a general question everything attitude and a stick-it-to-the-man mentality, though I honestly don't know that I knew who the man was until at least college.

So I find myself struggling with a few things lately...

As a parent, I find I have to tone down my cynicism with my kids. They are full of hopes and dreams as they are just now experiencing the world. Daniel and I joke all the time about how we need to avoid being dream crushers too often when it comes to our kids. Most of the time we try to help them reason and think through their ideas logically, without just crushing those ideas. It's a fine line.

When I read books – literature, news, contemporary writings, I naturally question it all. I don't tend to take experts at their word. I need corroboration. I need more facts. Feelings are good, but they don't really cut it for me overall. I need concrete evidence. So many things today seem to be driven by feelings and fear and everyday it all seems more and more bizarre. Read 1984 again and it will rock your world with how the last year has been playing out – I'm speaking to the culture in general.

The last year and a half with the pandemic and the willingness of so many to just believe what they tell you has been blowing my mind. The first few months, it made sense to slow down and assess what was going on. To read and learn from as many different experts as possible. When it became clear that we weren't experiencing another Black Plague, my cynicism kicked in. And to be honest I gravitated toward like-minded thinkers. But we were often left wondering, what happened to questioning everything? What happened to sticking it to the man? Why are people just doing what they are told? With the masks and vaccines? The whole thing has been so surreal from where I sit and from the world view I grew up with. This following along out of fear (as I perceive it) is so different from the cynicism I was surrounded with growing up.

Camping at Chilhowee

We spent the weekend camping with some of our homeschool friends at Chilhoweee. This is one of our favorite camping spots. The weather was just about perfect, though we did have a big rain storm roll in Saturday night while we sat around the campfire. 

This led to some frantic packing up and a couple of the families deciding to chunk their tents in their cars and leave early. Since we had our camper we enjoyed the rain from the comfort of our cozy beds.

Friday night the kids enjoyed playing with their friends. An impromptu game of kickball between campsites and bike rides followed by s’mores were on the agenda —we missed an evening swim due to our later arrival. 

Saturday started with coffee and hot breakfast with the plan to hike as a group to Benton Falls. While I was making our bacon, I had the misfortune of dumping an entire pan of bacon grease on myself. 

Thankfully I reacted quickly and was able to strip off my clothes and hop in our camper shower immediately. My frantic screams brought several people running to my aid. Friends kept an eye on our kids while Daniel helped me get cleaned up and medicated. 

We called several people with medical backgrounds for advice and decided we could wait on rushing to see a doctor. One of my friends came and prayed over me and I started to feel better while she prayed. The worst of my burns is on my thigh with some blistering and my hand was scalded as well though thankfully it didn't blister and I have full mobility. 

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We decided Daniel and the boys should go on the group hike while I sat in the camper and let the Tylenol kick in. My friends left me with a bottle of wine and a book. By the time they got back my pain was pretty much gone –– I just felt really stiff where I had been burned. 

At that point I was able to go down to the lake to watch the boys swim and play with their friends. I was even able to do the short hike back to camp. I’m glad we decided to stick around since I would just be on the couch if we had gone home. 

We enjoyed a lovely campfire. One of the families brought adult-only brownies (they had rum in them). When combined with marshmallow and graham cracker to make a s’more, these brownies were divine. 

Then came the rain and camp broke up. We woke up this morning to overcast skies but no rain. The boys had fun playing a few more games before we finished packing up and headed home. 

 

Even when things go wrong, camping is always a good idea. We may have quite a bit of experience camping but sometimes things just go wrong. We can chose to give up and go home or we can assess the situation, eat the bacon anyway and stay, and hope things get better.

I am counting my blessings that the grease didn’t get dumped on either of the kids and that it didn’t inadvertently cause a grease fire in our camper. It might have ruined my morning but there is always a silver lining that can be found. 

Boys Night Out: Motocross

Yesterday Daniel and the boys went to watch Motocross with friends while I stayed home and enjoyed some quiet and took care of some mundane tasks like swapping out their winter for summer wardrobes. They got home around 11pm last night and excitedly told me all about their day. It took Jack and isaac a little while to settle down enough to fall asleep. I’m so glad they had a fun afternoon/evening with just the guys.