Into the woods
It matters to me
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
I used to tell my husband that if he wanted somebody to hike and camp with, he married the wrong girl.
I finally caved a few weeks ago: I let my husband buy a tent so we could go camping with his extended family. You know, like in the woods with the bugs and the snakes.
Now many people wouldn't think this was any kind of big deal, but it was to me. I am very much a city girl and have an aversion to most things outdoorsy. My husband, however, loves to hike and camp and has spent years trying to convince me that these are "fun" things to do. I was not easily convinced.
When my sister-in-law asked me if we were going camping with everyone, my immediate answer was no. But I should have known better. Everybody was talking about the trip and what all they were going to do and hubby decided that it sounded great and, don't you know, the kids would have a blast. So I relented.
The lead-up to the trip was fun: I got to go shopping for supplies. It's amazing how many gadgets and doodads there are like tent ceiling fans and special soap and toilet paper in stores' camping departments. The kids were also really excited about getting to sleep in the tent and the prospect of catching fish. I let their good mood rub off on me. That kind of evaporated when my husband called me from the camp site. (Because of work, I had to wait a day to join them.) The conversation was going well until he told me that he had pitched the tent a few feet from the lake. Where the cottonmouths like to hang out. For the record, I am terrified of snakes and my husband knew this. He said it was the only good, flat spot left when he got there and he also told me that I didn't have to come if I didn't want to. I didn't want to be a complete sissy, so I headed down there the next day.
I arrived close to dusk and from that moment until after breakfast the next day, I wanted to go home. It was hot and sticky that night, and I had to take a bright flashlight on my trek to the bathroom so I wouldn't step on a snake. Trying to wash my 2-year-old in the tiny shower the next morning was close to torture. She screamed every time she saw a bug and we were sweating as soon as we got out of the stall. I will say, though, that I was extremely grateful there were showers and flush toilets. I wouldn't have gone otherwise. I refuse to pee in the woods.
Over the next couple of days, I slowly came around to the idea that it might be okay to camp. The bugs weren't as bad as I thought they would be and the communal aspect of the whole thing was nice. My son was thrilled to catch some fish and both of the kids wore themselves out running around with their cousins. I really enjoyed being able to unplug for a while and just be. That's something that doesn't happen much at my house.
My in-laws had been at the campsite for a week and no one had encountered a snake until the last day. Someone saw a rattlesnake in the same spot where my husband had been fishing only a few minutes before. That spooked me but everyone else was so confident in their snake spotting and killing abilities that I really didn't have anything to worry about.
I knew when we bought the tent, I was opening a can of worms. My husband has been researching other places for us to go camping since we got back. Because I didn't hate the experience, I've already agreed to do it again. We're going on vacation soon, and we're going to camp at the Padre Island National Seashore in Texas. I love the ocean, so that's part of how I got talked into that one.
Being married is all about compromise, and sometimes in the process of that you discover that maybe you aren't making as big of a sacrifice as you thought you were. I don't think I'll ever be an outdoorsy girl, but I've learned the great outdoors aren't nearly as bad as I've always made them out to be. My willingness to coat myself in bug spray and sunscreen and set out on an "adventure" makes my husband and kids immensely happy. It's kind of hard to keep up the miserable act in the face of that.
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