More Camping

After a day of activities worshipping the soil around us, we’d return to our sanctuary to sleep to for the evenings. Even this simple task became an event as we marched to the bathroom. Complete with showers, bathrooms, sinks, and toilets, it served host to the most enormous bugs I’d seen before in my life. Their wings seemed as large as the orioles and warblers singing in the trees. Their legs the size of the herons splashing in the lake. It was as if prolonged exposure to O’Brien’s mystic properties had distorted their bodies to the proportion of birds.

Standing by my father and brother’s side at the sink, we would brush our teeth in unison. With mint foam oozing from my mouth, I caught my dad’s eye and smile. My dad. My brother. Me. Like bandits, we’d steal back to our camp site, led by the familiar glow of our fluorescent lamp as our guide.

My parents whispered their goodnights, and soon, the tent would be filled with slow, rhythmic breathing and crackle-pop of neighboring fires. Kneeling at the point where God’s feet grazed the earth, heaven approached and dwelled around my slumbering family.


Sidenote:
Completely unrelated, but you'll all appreciate this if you know my inherent clumsiness...
It's been pretty cold here with January settling in. So, I ran out to get my mail from our box across the parking lot. As I was running back, I approached my front steps. I'm not sure what happened, but as I was running, I could feel my legs shutting down. I tried to operate them, but they just got heavier, and more stubborn. I could not lift them when I hit the base of the stairs...so I hit the base of the stairs. I fell in slow motion, with mail in my hands; my response time wasn't quick enough to put them in front of me to shield the oncoming steps. I SMASHED in to them with my chest, one arm, and my right leg.

I got up quickly, first moaning, "OWWWW." I realized that was the only thing I could do, because the blast to my chest had knocked the air out of me. I tried wincing in pain; nothing. Then I tried laughing, because I pictured how ridiculous the whole scene must have looked, but I couldn't do that either. After a while I caught my breath. I have considerable bruises on my body, and my sternum hurts pretty bad too.