We were invited to go camping by my co-worker Chip. There is a bit of back story to this. One of my oldest friends is Ellen. Ellen was also friends with Linda. We used to hang out at Linda's all the time back in the day since Linda was the only one of us who didn't still live with parents, back in the day when my mom used to accuse me of using their home as a hotel. Linda's sister Ann and Ann's husband Chip lived next door. So, I knew Chip years and years ago. It took us about three days of working together and saying, "You look really familiar to me, how do I know you?" to each other before we figured it out. Fifteen years will do that.
The property we camped on is outside Mt. Pleasant and Chip's childhood friend Nick actually lives on the land. Nick, after a nasty divorce, is all about living simply and without a lot of impact to the enviornment and making do with what is there. Nick and Chip grew up together in Saginaw and consider each other brothers. NOTE: Nick's mom and dad were also there and Penny, Nick's mom, showed me the most hilarious picture of Chip from the 1980's, that decade of bad fashion choices. Chip was dressed in very tight camo short shorts, knee high tube socks and a tight white tee shirt with a bandanna jauntily wrapped around his head, a la Pat Benetar.
All told, there were six kids there. Mia, Chip's daughters Heather and Alyssa, his son Ryan and Nick's two girls Haley and Kristen. Heather and Alyssa are both teen-agers (great girls, too, not only pretty but smart and witty too) and it became the Tribal sort of thing. Everyone looked after everyone else's kids and Heather and Alyssa pretty much herded the younger ones.
It was so wonderful, to hang out with friends and do nothing more stressful than eat and drink and solve world problems late into the night. So much great conversation. Nick Sr. and Penny, Nick's folks, are true characters and were just a blast. They were grandparents to all the children and the balloons that turned into animals didn't hurt a bit. Nick Senior is a grave digger, how perfect for me. He was also an absolute riot. Penny fell in love with Mia and they had many earnest Miaesque conversations that I think you have to be a grandma to understand.
I think in our late night into the morning talks, we covered just about every subject. Heather, at 16, provided a great point of view, a very intelligent young lady.
The land we camped on was surrounded by trees and fields and filled with wildflowers. On a whim, I bought black and white film and also on a whim, took black and white portraits of all the families individually with the woods and all the wildflowers as backdrop. With some technical help from Chip, we also took a couple group photos of everyone. I have two shots left on my camera and I have to take those so I can get the film developed. I can't WAIT to see how they turn out.
Not to mention, it's a rare opportunity to see a picture of yours truly in a hat, glasses and no make-up. Sweet!
A good time was indeed had by all! I throughly enjoyed fishing for the first time in 15 or so years even though I caught exactly nothing. I was amazed at how well all the children behaved and got along together, we didn't have one problem all weekend. Chip's girls were great with Mia. "Can I change her diaper?", "You certainly can my dear...ANYTIME you like!"... This was a much needed break for all of us and we enjoyed every minute. Thanks again Chip and Nick!
- Martin
Posted by: Martin | July 08, 2006 at 08:33 PM
It sounds like you all had a totally stellar time.
Posted by: Nadine | July 09, 2006 at 05:36 PM
Well, here it is the monday after the weekend after and the doggie flashlight is still a running laugh with me an my kids. all I have to say is "grrrrrrrrrrr, woof woof" and all 3 of them and myself start to laugh and Ann just rolls her eyes and shakes her head and calls me her favorite pet name, "your such an idiot". and we all giggle some more. Martin, whenever you ready lets go back, the weekends at da property is the only time I fish anymore. by da way Lisa, next time you an Ann get to cook a meal instead of da men cooking all weekend. By da way to all of Lisa's readers....FOR SOMEONE WHO NIBBLES AND EATS AND SNACKS ALL DAY LONG AT WORK SURE DOESNT EAT MUCH WHEN A HEARTY BREAKFAST IS MADE AND SERVED FOR HER! LOL and a big MUUHWAAAAA to Mia, Laters all, chipster
Posted by: Chip | July 10, 2006 at 08:51 AM