I just saw a picture on the e-camp website of my son on his first day of camp and I’m pretty sure he is having an awful time and I better go get him. He looks miserable. I feel miserable. It was a bad decision. I should have listened when he said he’d rather go to camp in the city. “Don’t they have camps teaching kids how to live in a big city?” he asked. “Like, today, we’re going to work on hailing a cab. And we can stay in dorm rooms on college campuses instead of cabins.”

Actually, he has it all figured out. He wants to start a city camp kind of like the game of Sims if you know anything about that. Everyone gets a certain amount of “money” to manage. They must learn to budget it wisely and then figure out ways to bring in more income. Or, if they blow it all too fast, they end up sleeping on the proverbial bench. Yep, you’ll have to ask him about it. That’s what he wants to do next year. Leave the nature camps for his sister, he says. He’ll take the city any day.

So in the meantime he’s stuck in the woods for two weeks. Without gel. Without his iPod. WITHOUT HIS CELLPHONE for crying out loud. The kid is probably going insane. He might be drooling and mumbling incoherently about now.

I better call the counselors and tell them to give him a little fix. Just hook him up to something electronic for a wee bit, to wean him slowly rather than cold turkey. We should have weaned him before going. I didn’t think of that, dadgumit.

Oh well, I’m going to go eat my birthday dinner, in air conditioning.  I’ll see about checking on Zach tomorrow.

 


Comments

sherry
Tue, 26 Jun 2007 15:12:44
wait, I looked all over for him and can't find a picture anywhere. they don't look like nature kids. they look like they are hanging out at the park. what nature? where is he? If he were HERE I could take him to the big city dagumit. you should have listened to me.
 

Polly
Tue, 26 Jun 2007 15:17:29
Yeah, SIS, you told me!!! And Zach and I discussed it and said next year maybe he could go hang out with you in the city. But he has to come home with an accent.

He's hard to notice. It's the photos on the porch where they are all sitting around and he looks bored. He got his hair cut. Look for the long neck like his mother's.
 

sherry
Tue, 26 Jun 2007 15:22:24
we can do accents,... I can say to-mah-to really well now and pl-ah-nt... and my irish is pretty good if you can imagine kermit living there...
 

Deb
Wed, 27 Jun 2007 04:33:58
Unless you wrote your post over a span of eight hours or more, I'd say you got over your maternal angst rather quickly, going from worrying over Zach's comfort and happiness to your air conditioned birthday dinner without really missing a beat. Bravo! You must be reaching that time in middle age when we start to say "Enough already, with this kid-centered life!"

Would love to see the photos of Zach looking miserable, but better not post the camp website here. Big Papa is clearly watching.
 

Polly
Wed, 27 Jun 2007 07:41:23
Yeah, I always thought it was Big Brother but apparently, at least in my case, it's Big Papa peeking over my shoulder. Hey, did he ever say what he was in for? Maybe he's a peeping Tom.

 

Big Papa
Wed, 27 Jun 2007 13:33:46
I was convicted of rape. The short story is the check bounced. Paid a ton in legal fees and had three lawyers.
 

Polly
Wed, 27 Jun 2007 13:36:13
Ouch. Best not to have to pay for services I reckon.
 

Big Papa
Wed, 27 Jun 2007 13:43:36
I am sorry you were offended, but it has been almost that long. You have gotten sensitive about your age. Don't worry, that to shall pass. Big Mama is well past ancient and is still in great shape.
 

Hoibe
Wed, 27 Jun 2007 20:16:31
Well to me Big Papa, it sounds to me that you single-Handedly have fought your way into this hopless mess you are in. I am sure you wish they'd pass more laws to protect you from yourself. I can hear it now, HELP! I'M TRAPPED IN A HUMAN BODY!!
I think you had some happiness once, but you moved away and you had to leave it behind...
I can hear you now---- IF ONLY I COULD BE RESPECTED WITHOUT HAVING TO BE RESPECTABLE!!
 

Sherry
Thu, 28 Jun 2007 09:18:53
Hoibe, you are scaring me. Is Hoibe an indian name for "man who smokes too much peace pipe"?????
 

Big Papa
Thu, 28 Jun 2007 13:12:51
I am and always have been hard-working, successful and with means. I developed and am teaching a Finance Survival class here and even the guards are taking the class. I never considered how the working poor are so victimized out of the little money they have.
Big Moma, The way past ancient remark should have been slightly approaching ancient. This place is making me caustic.
See you soon, hopefully.
 

hoibe
Thu, 28 Jun 2007 16:07:51
Sherry, no funny stuff in my mouth, a good cuban Stogie would do the trick though, but Then it was only Bruno giving me them, the good old days, wine cigar etc etc. hey good leaders are scarce, so I'm following myself....
 

Blog Mediator
Fri, 29 Jun 2007 16:25:17
Next Subject...
 

Jack
Sat, 30 Jun 2007 15:00:35
If you want your son to come to the big city and learn to live amongst "my" people, send him to me. I can guarantee a new enlightning of his impressions of people, probably to the point that he will want to move to montana and shack up with the unibomber!! Nothing like the south bronx to make a man of a boy.
 

BIG MAMA
Sun, 01 Jul 2007 13:43:14
The Pyramids are ANCIENT, Dinosaurs are ANCIENT, CLEOPATRA is ANCIENT but I'm just getting started! Hoibe, you go boy! Big City...What's that? Remember "GREEN ACRES"? That was a metropolis! I will never say another negative word about WalMart.
 




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