May 27, 2010

How To Avoid An Answer

5/27/2010 — cori

This genius verbiage came to me this past weekend. We were in the midst of our latest greatest camping adventure down in the Hill Country of Texas. For most that know me, camping is not my forte. To quote a great saying: "some men were born great, other's had greatness thrust upon them" - my version: "some ladies were born to camp, other's had camping thrust upon them". I fall into the latter category. I go to see the joy on my children's faces. We won't even attempt to delve into the psyche that is my brain and try to understand the origins of my camping fears. If I were playing a word association game some words that pop into mind when the word 'camping' is uttered are: hunger, dirt, porta potty, acrid smoke, migraine, hard ground, snakes, bugs, dirt....you get the idea. But I was not about to let my fears, negative associations or general dislike of the sport, hinder my kids from experiencing this adventure for themselves. After assuaging my fear for the past few years, I've actually come to like it, sort of, in it's own little way. I love nature, I love my family, I love fresh air...so in a sense, I could possibly grow to love camping too. It all hinges on bathroom facilities when you get right down to it.

All that to say, I was assimilating in to my new environment for the next 48 hours. We were on a little hike after our first cook-out dinner. I'm still trying to shed the hee-bee jee-bees nature sometimes induces in me. Telling the children not to touch anything green is pointless. My eyes are darting back and forth across our path in search of any reptilian friends. Someone of the younger generation asks me a question. I hear it, but can't shake the stupor I'm in. I'm focused on the task at hand, I can not, under any circumstances, deviate from my search for snakes. I hear the question and know an answer is needed. I don't even know what the question was, so how can I commit to an answer? The best I could come up with was, "Okay Honey, we'll do that closer to later."

WHAT?!? Talk about non-commital and utter avoidance. I'm sure they felt they had my complete attention at the moment. Then Chloe actually called me down on my response. She's like, "Mom, what does that mean anyway?"

"It means, Honey...that I'm otherwise occupied and have no clue what to say at the moment and it just plain sounded good."

I'll probably post some amazing camping pictures for y'all....closer to later.

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