Monday, May 10, 2010

I'm a Lumber Jack and I'm Okay....

Happy Mother's Day..... Happy Other Mother's Day.....

Children are the best from the pieces of ourselves....

They teach us more about ourselves than we will ever teach them. I truly believe that is why God gave them to us. They bring to us, innocence we have lost. Hope we have turned from. And the sense of freedom. The sense that there is no reason why to grown women shouldn't jump off the dock in all their clothes.... and like it... and find freedom in their self baptism.



Rainbow Camp in general will always be a memory burned into my mind. I remember the jump off the dock, Becky.

I remember the services with the wind blowing in my hair. I remember the drums

I remember the band. I remember community. I will always remember community.

I will remember that my youngest daughter Emma, she made fast friends with the lifeguard and I do believe she was either under his careful watch or on his shoulders much more than she ever was on her own two feet.



But, I was asked to talk about my favorite memory of the trip. Well, it was when we all tried to settle down to sleep. I suffer from "Sleep Fright" that is when you are laying awake while everyone around you drifts off happily leaving you alone in the dark with your thoughts and the inability to stay still.

I discovered that weekend that my daughter Hannah suffers from the same thing. We both laid there in our discomfort and finally I whispered, "Do you want to take a walk?" and she was out of the top of her bunk bed before my feet hit the floor. We bundled up, found the flash light and walked down to the dock. (side note: Ty and Becky's dogs were going crazy) We walked out to the end and laid down on our backs and watched the stars and the moon sparkle off the water. We listened to the silence and the crickets. We listened to the dock creaking as the water rose up and down dancing with the pull of the almost full moon. We laid there until about 2am. Finally, we succumbed to the shivering and found our way back to the cabin. But not before Hannah asked me to promise that next year, we would be prepared and we would sleep there all night and watch the stars and the sunrise. We pinky sweared. When we left we decided that we would go the “long way” around the building. Dogs again barking wildly. That didn't detour us, it was the consuming dark that our flashlight just couldn't penetrate. She looked at me and I looked at her, we decided the way back would be easier if we just walked were the building was lit.
We were asleep in minutes. I didn't take my camera in our little excursion but it is one of those memories which will be burned perfectly and forever into our hearts and minds much clearer than a 4x6 ever could.

The next morning over pancakes, I remember the talk about the dogs going nuts the night before. I remember looking at Hannah sideways and said, “maybe there was a bear in the area” and she grin and looked innocent. Well just to set the record set.... it was us.