Yesterday, we dropped Olivia off for her first experience at sleepaway camp, and I left my heart a half hour outside of the city. Despite the wave of emotions that washed over me as we walked out of the family registration building, less a kid, I was comforted by the fact that she was beaming when we left, excited to get to know her new friends at camp, choose a bunkbed. A quick hug, a kiss, and we were off - she waved us out of the room, and excitedly began to unpack her things.
And it hit me, the wave of thoughts that happens when you leave your kid at summer camp for the first time.
Ohmygosh I hope I see her face on the live feed later | There was a live feed that night - and I got to see her face, until Jamie convinced me that I didn’t need to watch twenty minutes of the kids singing songs around the campfire. I was obsessing with the look on her face, and her actions and whether she was having a good time. Was the look on her face because it was past bedtime, or was it because she hated it there? Did she make a friend? Was she having fun? Would she be able to sleep? It’s a good thing the camp live feed is only a one-time thing, that’s all I have to say. Pregnancy hormones are making me cray, Mamas.
Did we remember everything? | It wouldn’t be our family if there wasn’t a last minute trip somewhere, to grab something that was forgotten along the way. This time around, it was rain boots. I stopped by the Shoe Company because it was convenient, and on the way out of town, and was happy that not only did we have a $10 credit from previous purchases, but that the rain boots we found in her size were ‘fabulous’ in the words of a seven-year-old, and they were on sale. Since we were sending rain boots, of course, I had to send socks - and both items had reg tags, snagging me an extra thirty percent off of the total. Grand total for rain boots and socks? Just over $20. That’s not a terrible last-minute purchase, at all.
I forgot the Fries | On the way out of Sherwood Park she wanted to stop for fries. I was nav-lost (nav-lost: you have no idea where you are, but your nav does and if it failed, you would be lost-lost) and had no idea where we were going so I didn’t want to get off course because the whole ‘off route’ message from Sync gives me insta-panic. I told her we would stop later, and offered up Starbucks instead (of which 1/8th of the slushy drink was probably consumed). The nav-lost got worse, as we drove, and then, there were no places to get fries. She didn’t mention it, I hope she wasn’t going to be hungry at camp. Did she have enough lunch before we left? Did I rush them through eating so we could get on the road?
How did we even get here? | This one runs through my head constantly - how did we get here? How did we get to the point where we have a seven year old and where did the last seven years disappear? They’ve been full, sure - but as we reach every milestone, I always worry about being enough.
God, she’s incredible | So resilient, she’s just beaming with excitement about her first experience at summer camp where she gets to spend some time away (okay, so just outside the city). She was so keen to unpack her things, choose her bunkbed and get out her notebook where she was going to capture her ‘camp friends’ new phone numbers so they could keep in touch. I think, as we get caught up in everyday life, we get caught up in the ‘kid-stuff’, the breaking up fights, the feeling like you are never going to have a few moments to yourself - but watching your kids thrive in situations where they are experiencing something new? That’s incredible, and I kind of just stood there for a moment, outside her room, in awe, after she waved Violet and I away.
And then we left. We sat outside, shaded under a tree in a makeshift parking spot, and I called Jamie, texting him photos and remarking how excited she was to be there - no tears, just pride.
