The fear

Have I mentioned that I am going to girls camp? Me, the ever so outdoorsie, practically living in the wild as it is girl.

I am the girl who does not camp. I stay in cheap motels near campgrounds.

Last year, I woke up early at girls camp, or couldn’t sleep, one or the other. I was up trying to light a fire. I was there for about an hour with a box of matches, what I gathered of small branches and pine needles and could not get it to light. Half a box of matches later I gave up.

That is me. Partially in charge of 25ish girls and leaders. Have I mentioned my irrational fear of the outdoors, and the recent death of an 11-year old boy by bear mauling and all the bear sightings that have closed down campgrounds near where we will be camping? And did I mention that my irrational fear may actually be rational.

The leaders of the camp had a meeting tonight. Going over the last details. The bears came up. Now it is 1:30 in the morning and I am terrified out of my mind and researching pepper spray for bears and the proper fetal position to assume when a bear attacks. There is a bit of terror here in bed with me, the kind that makes it impossible to get out of bed and go potty.

I guess this is where Wayne’s World comes in. Hopefully, the dull mumbling of jj’s favorite high school movie can erase the fear out of me for the evening so that I may get some sleep tonight.

Here’s to ceiling mounted Red Vine dispensers.

This entry was posted on Friday, July 6th, 2007 at 12:32 amand is filed under . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

2 Responses to “The fear”

  • Annie Says:
    July 6th, 2007 at 9:04 am

    I’m not much of a camper either, but I have had a grizzly bear w/in about 300 feet of a campground and had a moose sit on the edge of my tent (broke the spring bars) in the middle of the night to take a rest while my sister and I were praying that we wouldn’t die on the inside.

    Take bear spray (regular pepper spray isn’t strong enough). You can get it at REI or some place like that. Also, if you are really nervous, get some “bear bells”, also to be purchased at a recreation store. Wear them on your clothes at all times and make sure that you always travel with a partner, and never travel quietly. Always be talking, singing, and causing a racket.

    Have fun!

  • nat.alie Says:
    July 6th, 2007 at 1:39 pm

    Scary…get the spray, but try not to think about it.

    AND don’t die. I like you a lot and I don’t like a lot of people.

    Also, I am now addicted to Etsy, thanks to you. I just purchased three “card holder” bag things today. So unpractical and also so wonderfully cute.

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