Tis the season of camping. Heading out to the forest or beach, setting up a tent, building a gigantic bonfire and roasting marshmallows. The smell of the crackling wood, watching the stars come out, and for a couple of days not having to deal with phones, or computers, or real life. A friend and I were discussing the phenomenon of going to bed at 10 p.m. when you are camping (after you consume beer all day long, once the darkness hits you are pretty much done for the day!). At night there isn’t much to do but sit around and chat. Watch the fire and listen to the quiet of the forest. I miss that very much. As much as I love it, I haven’t been camping in years. I don’t have a tent myself – for good reason, being that it’s unlikely I could set up a tent without spending several hours swearing, poking myself with tent poles and ending up with 3 random left-over pieces… and figuring out at 2 a.m. exactly what the purpose of those pieces is when the tent collapses in the pitch black. Ahh, the outdoors. But the marshmallows!
Being that I don’t own a cell phone myself, I find these excursions into the middle of nowhere not as hard to adjust to as some of my more tech-savvy counterparts. I sort of relish the fact that you’ve dropped off the face of the planet for a little while. Nothing is pressing, things slow down and you can just breathe.
The majority of friends I have wouldn’t set foot near the forest unless taken hostage by angry militants. The thought of dirt and sleeping on the ground and peeing in the woods doesn’t appeal to them. God knows why? But a few people I know have been camping lately quite a lot. Unfortunately I have not been a part of those trips, but I’m hoping a bit later in the summer to get out. Do some canoeing, play some drunken poker, eat marshmallow dinner, and go swimming in the lake. If it weren’t for the lack of car, tent, general sense of direction, and inability to read both a map and a compass, I would be out there in a minute. Just those few details. (Why oh why wasn’t I a girl scout? Damn you, flute lessons!). So I will wait patiently until I can find a camping buddy and then… well, at least I’ll bring the marshmallows.