Before the weekend, Josh and I discussed a few ideas of things we can do together–just the two of us. Somehow he had his mind set on camping. Don’t get me wrong, I love camping too. But in December, while it’s rainy and dark? Not on the top of my list of fun things to do.

I got home from work on Friday, fully expecting to discuss with him what else we can do this weekend, given the wind warning and rain. As soon as I opened the door, he came running with his sleeping bag in tow, excitedly asked, “Are we going camping now?”

“Uh, baby, it’s raining out and there’s a wind warning in effect. Do you want to do something else this weekend?”

“No, I want to go camping.”

Okay…then. Since I did ask that in the form of a question, leaving the choice to him, I can’t then turnaround to say no. I packed up a few things and got ready to go camping. I have had a long week and was feeling very tired. I really did not want to go camping.

While waiting for the elevator, Josh looked up at me with bright eyes, and said, “Mommy, I have been waiting so long to spend some time with you.  You were away in Vienna with Daddy and Phoenix with Savanna. I am so excited we’re going camping!”

Well, that put an end to my self-pity about how tired I was feeling. Who knows how many more years I have left with my son wanting to go camping with me?

We drove down to Birch Bay State Park. It was pitch black and raining hard when we got there. We had our choice of campsites, as there were only 3 other campers in an area with over 30 sites. We settled in for the night listening to the wind outside, while we were safety tucked inside the van with electricity and a propane-powered furnace. Josh taught me how to make origami squids, we read a couple of chapters of Captain Underpants,  ate some potato chips and drank hot tea. By 9 pm, my eyelids were getting heavy. Josh was still too wound up to sleep. I gave up and went to sleep, while he stayed up a little longer to make more origami.

On Saturday, we woke up to a clear day with no rain. It was cold outside, but the furnace (and my many layers of clothing, and my sub-zero sleeping bag) had kept me pretty warm.

We ate breakfast, and went for a long walk. Josh loves looking for broken crab shells and interesting rocks at the beach, so we did just that. We got some coffee and hot chocolate at the coffee shop, and walked back to the campsite talking about random things. We talked about how much we love camping, and made plans to do this more often.

While waiting for our lunch to cook, I looked back and see Josh throwing sticks around, climbing onto the picnic table and jumping off. There was no one else around, so I let him be. Then he was fixated on stripping the bark off a broken tree branch. The air was cool and fresh. I was loving being outdoors, and being with Josh. There was no TV, no phone, no work, and no rush to go somewhere. It was so good for the soul.