The Happy Camper Returns

Last Monday at approximately 5:26 a.m. I gave my oldest child a hug and sent him away to Scout Camp. As sad or pathetic as it seems, he has never been away from me or his family longer than a day and giving him up to the wilds of Idaho caused more than just a few pangs of worry.

There’s no calling to check up or say good-night and recalling all those Scout Camp horror stories of bears mauling scouts in their sleep, falling off a cliff side, drowning in some sort of water activity and freak acts of nature involving lightening strikes or tornados can and will put even the bravest of mothers on edge until their safe return.

I’m not completely off my rocker here, I have proof of wild, beast-like, crazy boy behavior. For instance, the Brawny Man picture. Shirtless and everything near the edge of a plateau. Don’t they know bees can sting them? That the sun will burn them? That personal body odor after such a hike can wilt even the weediest of flowers? These are the reasons a mother should be concerned.

Then while I was tending to the cleanliness of the kitchen, the bells I have hanging on the front door jingled and my Devin was home.

He’s dirty, extremely dirty and smelly and covered in nature. He’s smiling too! Wait a minute, is that a band-aid on his middle finger? Okay, I can handle that.

He wouldn’t let me give him a hug so I took one anyway. “My baby boy is back!” ( He loves me calling him that! )

After the gear was unpacked and put away, showers and my laundry pile tripled, he regaled the more exciting parts of Scout Camp and none of it I found scary. Though I wonder if he left anything out on purpose.

There was a Rootbeer chugging contest, silly songs about a golden ladle and tribal grunting calls which only encouraged Cro-Magnum like behavior. A Spirit Stick that I highly doubt encouraged the presence of the Holy Ghost, which I hear was accidentally burned in the campfire one night. Devin brought home a walking stick that he and his dad carved out and decorated together with ‘bear’ claws, a raccoon tail and strips of leather.

Devin passed the swimming test and earned five merit badges; Environmental Science, Emergency Preparedness, Soil and Water Conservation, Fish and Wildlife, and Fingerprinting.

THIS is where he spent a WEEK! Here? It’s beautiful! I want to be a Scout.

I want a week’s vacation in the mountains by a lake.

I’m so glad that he had the opportunity to go and be manly but he’ll always be my baby boy whether he’s twelve or seventy-two! Thanks to all the leaders who spent their time wrangling the boys, especially mine. This is definitely one of the hardest parts about being mom, watching them grow and growing a bit myself.

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