Growing up in a family of all boys, with a Mama who was (in my opinion) a very good sport about things, our family vacations were always (stereotypically) more oriented towards boy interests and such. There were no vacation rentals, lakeside cottages, or things that involved any semblance of a luxury.
And that's cool.
We were all totally okay with the adventure that most of our vacays involved.
In fact, we kind of preferred it this way. It made for some fun stories when we went back to school.
:: (Sugar cereal. My guilty pleasure. Even more enjoyable in the moonlight).
:: (Camp coffee. Brewed hot and strong. Especially delish for a crack'o'dawn early morning trip to "catch the big one.")
Our vacations often involved canoeing some river, pitching our tent at day's end, digging a hole for our potty, and swimming in the river for our baths. There was one time where I woke up in the middle of the night literally floating in my sleeping bag during a torrential downpour, because my tent apparantly had a ginorous leak. My cousin and I spent the rest of the night bundled in our winter jackets stretched out across the pick-up seats.
There was another time on the Allagash, where we got caught in a thunder and lightning storm in the middle of the water. We got to shore as quickly as possible, holed up in an abandoned camp's outhouse - no joke, all five of us. My oldest brother found a key, tried it in the camp's lock, and we waited out the rest of the storm as burgalers in a stranger's camp.
We left a note explaining the situation, along with our house address, and we got a very nice letter in response with an open invite to come visit any time we were in the area!
Good times!
Seriously. They were.
You can't replicate adventures like that!
So, a cabin on an island, with a roof over our heads, and an actual outhouse as opposed to a hole in the ground is pretty glamorous when compared to my childhood adventures!
And when four of the five of us are avid fishermen - or want to be just like their Daddy and their big brothers, and live in the boat for most of the day - I'm going to follow my Mama's lead and roll happily right along.
A good part of my week involved me sitting on my buns, nursing a strong cup of camp coffee, often snuggling a wee one to sleep to the lullaby of rocking waves, and looking at the backs of the heads of the rest of my men.
It was good, lazy, bum-numbing fun!
And really, no matter what you do, vacation with family is always fun.
And the longer I'm a Mama and wife, the more I appreciate my own Mom.
You set the bar high, Marmie...Just trying to live up to you.
*************************
1603. Boat trips at sunrise and sunset.
1606. Lullabies of wind and waves.
1607. Sunkissed skin.
1631. God's creation vast and free.
1632. Wild, rugged beauty.
1633. Mirrored glass waters.
1634. And raging waves.
1635. Time to sit and be.
No comments:
Post a Comment