I agreed to what?

A funny thing happened this spring. I easily agreed to do something I never thought I’d agree to – at least not without a fight. And not only did I say ‘yes’ without a second thought, but then I said ‘yes’ to doing this thing a second time before the first time even happened.

What I’m saying is I’ve agreed to go camping…twice.

I’ve never been a camper. In fact, except for my childhood trips to summer sleep-away camp (where you sleep on bunk beds, in cabins for two weeks) I have been camping a grand total of three times.

The first was when I was 15 and my parents decided we were going to take a family trip to Algonquin Park. So, not only were we camping, but we were canoeing with a guide all day long, hauling all our stuff with us and setting up our tents in the middle of nowhere. I remember it being fun, sort of. Well, I remember it being different and a lot of work for a vacation actually. And in hindsight, I realize it was really not my family’s type of thing.

The second and third times were car camping – each for one night only. It was while car camping that I discovered that camping’s not really all that bad, but well, I can’t say I had a great time either time. No particular reason really, but I don’t have many memories of either trip – good or bad – and haven’t felt like I’ve been missing out on anything in the seven or eight summers that have slipped by since the last trip.

In fact, when previously asked to go camping, I’ve always found reasons why not.

But then, something funny happened when it was still too cold to think that summer would ever arrive. A good friend of ours asked us if we wanted to go over the July long weekend with a group that would include 8 adults and 5 kids, and before I realized what I was agreeing to, I found myself at Canadian Tire shopping for a tent.

And I’m actually looking forward to the trip. So much so, that when another friend of ours suggested a camping weekend – I was the one sending the e-mails to get a date pinned down to go.

Maybe it has to do with being older (although I don’t know why age would have anything to do with it). Maybe it has to do with being relatively sure that Austin will really like the idea of ‘being outside’ for three days straight. Or maybe it has a lot to do with the company we’ll be keeping. Whatever it is, I’m really looking forward to our first (and second) camping trip of the season.

Who knows, maybe I’ll start to want to vacation like this more often. It’s certainly a cheaper way to travel.