saffronhare

For many reasons, my ambition to get out of town for a romantic weekend just with

diermuid isn't going to happen. And that's okay, really, but I wanted to do some Interesting Things before the end of the summer nonetheless, and an opportunity surfaced: We're going to serve as "camp commissioners" out at Camp Naish for the next three weekends.

Commissioners are volunteers who sort of know their way around the camp and/or the BSA system, and who are not attached to a particular group camping out there. We are assigned (sometimes just as "floaters") to areas where the staff or the troops/packs need a bit of extra support, generally to help things run more smoothly. We direct parking on sign-in days. We help leaders untangle paperwork. We step in to serve as an additional trained leader when the adult-to-scout ratios aren't quite working out for one reason or another. That sort of thing.

For this service, we get to eat three "meals" each day in the camp Dining Hall, sleep in "perma-tents" (with cots, which is purportedly a LUXURY), and shower at the pool house during the 90 minutes each evening reserved for the over-18 crowd. I've heard we'll also get a t-shirt, which Matthew is disproportionately excited about. He has graciously agreed NOT to refer to this (out loud, or in front of me) as a "romantic get-away weekend," in exchange for which I will not shoot him.*

Lady Sadie is looking forward to this dose of independence. No other offspring in the house. She'll have my car to get herself to work, and she'll have the doggies to herself as well. Should be good times all around.

One fun bonus MIGHT be that we could maybe take the two younger girls with us -- not this weekend, but possibly one or both of the next two weekends. I've heard folks sometimes do that, and I think the girls would love it, but I think we need this weekend to understand more of what we'll be doing and how having sidekicks would work. And it could sure be nice to cross paths with the three other kids of ours who work at Naish all summer.

*This is a rule of mine. It is generally not a date if an event we have to sign in to GET CREDIT for (as in CPR training a couple of Fridays ago). And it's not really a romantic weekend away together if we sleep in separate tents/cabins. Call me crazy.