The Trouble with Moms

It seems that the young men of my son’s acquaintance have been engaging in the time-honored ritual of back-yard camping, and last week, Jacob decided to give it a try. He was determined to live in the back yard for 3 days straight. I admit to being skeptical that he could pull off that long a detox from his computer, but I was certainly game to support the endeavor.

I sent him out to the shed to see if he could find his father’s back packing tent, and at first he came in with the family-sized one, for which our back yard might (barely) have room. I thought it might be easier for him to learn how to put up the one-man tent, so out he went again to rummage around till he found it.

He was pretty excited to head out there later that night; unfortunately, one of his sisters opened the back door, and indicated that the yard (or at least the back step) was crawling with cockroaches. Now, it is probably true (as my husband later informed me, with not a little exasperation) that the tent is well designed for just such eventualities, and is impervious to critters of that sort; however, at the time, I was overcome by what can only be described as a blinding case of “the willies”, and it got the better of me.

I am truly sorry and humbly repent for squashing my son’s adventurous spirit. It will not happen again. This week he will most definitely be camping in the back yard every night, for as many nights as he would like, critters or no.

Have at it, young man! You’ve got to practice up for when you go out backpacking with your dad later this summer. 🙂