Photoessay #451 - I didn't go

Ilana just left for the Shoreline Service Unit 'Mom'n me' weekend for local scouts and their moms. Yes, I have attended as a parent for the last sixteen years. Mostly in a whining 'drag on the activity' mode but I did go. But not this year. Despite Ilana's entreaties to not break my perfect string of attendance, I didn't go. Naomi was going to go but decided she did not want to miss her first soccer game. I have to admit I usually had a good time once I got there. The last few years, I just went for the day. Hey, SO much easier when you don't have to sleep there especially in an outdoor unit. The girls do love it. I remember once when Naomi was in later elementary school and we went, both nights, the outdoor unit, the whole thing. She had a ball and declared that we really should have 'Mom'n me' WEEK.

And it has been a source of good memories. Remember the weekend they lost power plus the dishwasher broke, remember the weekend it poured the entire time, remember the time we played Bizarre Bizarre and laughed SO hard, remember the time they had OXEN, remember the time all of the kitchen helpers flaked and we had to feed 200 girl scouts OURSELVES? etc etc Actually last year, I pretended to help Ilana at the waterfront and supervised the making of the gorp. In later years, I whined and complained so I got to sleep inside and play a queen mother role. These past two years I did not stay overnight because of me neck issues.

And this year, I did not go at all. The weather does look great. But it's at Camp Lyle McLeod which is in the middle of god-awful NOWHERE. You have to go to Belfair and out on some really tiny roads, then down unmarked unpaved logging roads. No matter how hard I tried to leave early on Friday afternoon, it's always pitch black when I got there. And nothing NOTHING is darker than those logging roads in the middle of NOWHERE. I was always sure that we would never be seen again, lost forever on the logging roads, nobody would ever find us. Every year I loudly fussed and moaned that I was never NEVER coming here again. But I always made it. Of course it helped if
a. it wasn't at Lyle McLeod
b. I didn't go Friday night
c. I didn't go at all

When my friend Bronsa, was running the event, she always made sure that I was assigned to most remote faraway unit because she felt I needed to be toughened up.

So Styx and Gold (their camp names) set out on their own. But not until it was practically dark on Friday evening so it will be really REALLY dark out on those logging roads. And they almost left without the driving directions which would be a very very bad idea.

And I don't feel bad at all. Though, ruefully, I admit that my life was better for my mom'n me experiences. But not enough to go.

Pictured is a copy of the Dining Hall stolen from somebody else's pictures. That particular building has TERRIBLE acoustics. For quite a few years, Ilana was in charge of Saturday Night entertainment, and it was hard to figure out what to do in that hall. You can't hear a thing, everything is garbled.