There Are No Pictures
You know when you're worried something may turn out badly but you Polly-Anna yourself into bravery? Well all my cheery, positive thinking and sardonic humor deflated when I stepped into my own little corner of hell; Omaha cabin. I'm not sure of the exact moment when my outlook began to wither. It could have been the mouse, well I think it was a mouse but it ran up the wall so fast I couldn't really see it, or the black spider in the window above one of the bunks, whose legs would have spaned to the edges of my palm if I had wanted to hold it. It was also the spider that must have had wings because it jumped and charged at the other mom chaperone as she came towards it.
It was almost silly. Every corner had scary-movie-sized cobwebs, and even though a large broom was provided for clean up, it didn't help get the mouse dropping out of the wooden-box bunks.
Ultimately, it was the spider that concerned the teachers the most, so we were moved to another cabin before nightfall; CROW cabin. It was freshly painted on the inside with only a small spider or two scuttling around. Hey, that's what flip-flops are for. Then night fell and the HUGE cockroaches came crawling out of....
the wooden bunk-beds! OK so, THAT'S what flip-flops are for. After killing everything I could see and checking under mattresses and under bunks for more surprises, while trying to comfort some (rightly so) homesick and freaked out little girls, everyone settled down for a whopping four hour sleep. When I opened my eyes the next morning, a large black beatle was sitting on my pillow and my first thought was, how many of his buddies are in my ears?
But that didn't top the last night at camp, where, after being stuck in the mess hall untill 11P.M. due to a severe thunder and lightening storm that cut the power to the entire camp, (the mess hall had a generator), we walked throught the pitch night with slivers of flash lights to our cabin which was now in the full controll of more cockroaches. While I was doing my bunk bed check and bug smashing routine, I noticed a very long black snake that was coiled behind a built in cabinet.
The story goes on and on from there, so I'll shorten it up a bit by saying that I didn't say anything to the girls, just told the other mother and then we piled the girls into our cars to drive over to the main building to talk to the teachers, (the five girls in my car fell asleep). The rest of the girls weren't so lucky because the other mother chaperone left us at 3 in the morning. Rather than try and move everyone around again, I told the supervisor that I would stay up and watch the remaining three girls while they slept in the cabin. What she didn't realize was that staying up wouldn't be hard for me because I was COMPLETELY freaked out by that point. I sat in a chair for the remainder of the night reading a mystry novel one of the teachers lent me while keeping an eye on my pal Mr. Long Black Snake.
Thankfully, no one seems to have suffered any spider bites, and I made all of them shake out every-pickin'-livered-thing they brought with them before they packed up to go home again.
They will bring home their memories though, and I can only hope that the sunny days spent t-shirt painting and canoeing will blot out, or at least dim, the bug-sodden nights.
It was almost silly. Every corner had scary-movie-sized cobwebs, and even though a large broom was provided for clean up, it didn't help get the mouse dropping out of the wooden-box bunks.
Ultimately, it was the spider that concerned the teachers the most, so we were moved to another cabin before nightfall; CROW cabin. It was freshly painted on the inside with only a small spider or two scuttling around. Hey, that's what flip-flops are for. Then night fell and the HUGE cockroaches came crawling out of....
the wooden bunk-beds! OK so, THAT'S what flip-flops are for. After killing everything I could see and checking under mattresses and under bunks for more surprises, while trying to comfort some (rightly so) homesick and freaked out little girls, everyone settled down for a whopping four hour sleep. When I opened my eyes the next morning, a large black beatle was sitting on my pillow and my first thought was, how many of his buddies are in my ears?
But that didn't top the last night at camp, where, after being stuck in the mess hall untill 11P.M. due to a severe thunder and lightening storm that cut the power to the entire camp, (the mess hall had a generator), we walked throught the pitch night with slivers of flash lights to our cabin which was now in the full controll of more cockroaches. While I was doing my bunk bed check and bug smashing routine, I noticed a very long black snake that was coiled behind a built in cabinet.
The story goes on and on from there, so I'll shorten it up a bit by saying that I didn't say anything to the girls, just told the other mother and then we piled the girls into our cars to drive over to the main building to talk to the teachers, (the five girls in my car fell asleep). The rest of the girls weren't so lucky because the other mother chaperone left us at 3 in the morning. Rather than try and move everyone around again, I told the supervisor that I would stay up and watch the remaining three girls while they slept in the cabin. What she didn't realize was that staying up wouldn't be hard for me because I was COMPLETELY freaked out by that point. I sat in a chair for the remainder of the night reading a mystry novel one of the teachers lent me while keeping an eye on my pal Mr. Long Black Snake.
Thankfully, no one seems to have suffered any spider bites, and I made all of them shake out every-pickin'-livered-thing they brought with them before they packed up to go home again.
They will bring home their memories though, and I can only hope that the sunny days spent t-shirt painting and canoeing will blot out, or at least dim, the bug-sodden nights.
posted by Amanda at 11:56 AM
2 Comments:
Oh, we LOVED your ability to turn a night of arachnaphobia into a great story!! My two older children each went on that very same science field trip when they were in the sixth grade. Unbelievably, when the oldest one was in sixth grade, there were so many parents who wanted to be chaperones that they held a lottery for the coveted jobs. I did not get to go but have counted my blessings in subsequent years. Hooray for you--and how lucky for your daughter that you were there. That same oldest daughter and her cabinmates solved their bug problem by sacrificing someone's battery-powered flashlight each night....the better to see the bugs with, I suppose? I didn't have the heart to tell her that the flashlight must have attracted more insects all night long. Bless you! There's a special place in heaven reserved for parents who go on overnight field trips. (And we have overnight field trips WHY?????)
Dear Lord tell me you made this all up!!!!! I am here to tell you there is no way - and I mean - NO WAY I would have surrived that little jaunt! As if camping was not horrible enough - a snake!! A ##@%#@# SNAKE!!! I would need to be heavily sedated to make it through that weekend. You are a good mom and a great sport. I will make a mental note to NEVER sign up for a camping trip - Alex will have to go that one alone or with her dad - count me out for sure.
Tina
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