End of summer excitement

On the list of our many adventures this summer, the last of them was a small camping trip. As the day was approaching the reasons to not go kept piling up-lack of packing space, a 15 month old, a tent that is falling apart, an air mattress that always has a hole, a 15 month old, no time to prepare, a child that gets nervous to the point of crying and making herself vomit any time we are away from home, a 15 month old and the fact I am training for a little thing called a marathon and had to get in a 17 mile run the following morning.

Everything was against us.

So we went.

And don’t ElRey tell you differently, I totally went with a smile and a happy heart. And I DID NOT cry when it started to rain when we were setting up our tent and our nervous one was sobbing about it.

Somehow I still didn’t regret it. Even though I didn’t get to visit with anyone in our group, I almost froze and hardly slept even after I gave up on the hard ground and snuck into the van. Maybe it’s because it was fun (albeit, a little annoying) to hear my 10 year old and her 2 friends telling each other scary stories and giggling till the wee hours of the morning or maybe I was just proud to have survived a long night. I tell you what I do regret: my attitude. I could have handled it all so much better and I failed.

Somehow God saw thru my Poopy Pants Persona and gave me little (they felt huge to me) gifts the next morning. 

1. My husband and the fact he still liked me.

2. When my alarm went off at 5 am I woke up and didn’t feel awful after such a crappy night.

3. I didn’t die on my way down the canyon to town to do my run.

4. It was one of the most beautiful runs I have ever been on and Spanish Fork will now and forever have a special place in my heart since I ran all over it.

5. I kicked that 17 miles’ butt and it cried when I was done with it.

But the best part was when I got back to my car that I had parked at a gas station. I went to get my keys while I daydreamed of the banana I was about to eat and a bacon egg and cheese bagel I was gonna snag on my way back and realized there was no keys in my fanny pack (yes, I said fanny pack. It’s awesome.)! Oh, there they are….on the front seat..in the van..

Son of a Nutcracker.

I checked each door, including the trunk to see if by some miracle one of the doors didn’t lock. It was like a leaky, filthy, slightly-off-putting-smelly Fort Knox.

But I remembered that my back window was broken and it opened just enough that I had once shoved my 4 year old thru it the last time (and the only other time, I swear) I locked my keys in there. Since recently dropping a considerable amount of weight and having kicked butt on a 17 mile run, I was confident enough that I thought I could shimmy my way in thru that window, hopefully before someone notices and calls the cops. When I got stuck halfway in I really regretted that 3rd helping of chili the night before. I’m sure that was the reason I got stuck.

I couldn’t get a hold of anyone back at camp and knew I had only 2 options. A locksmith or borrow a random kid that happened to come to the gas station with a parent. I was on the prowl.

It was mere minutes before the perfect family showed up. I took my chance and ran up.

Me: Excuse me, I know this sounds crazy but I have locked my keys in my car! My back window is broken and I can open it just enough to fit a small kid in. So…can I borrow your kid?

Father who wished he had gone to a different gas station:………..Sure…where’s your car?

Me: Right this way, good sir!

That’s when we shoved his 7 year old into my car while I kept a look out for the cops I just knew someone must have called by this point and, suddenly, I was in my car!

Miracles do happen, people!

And God loves me. Even if I do shove random kids thru the back window of my van!