Camping.

Camping.
You're on the bridge, waterfall on one side, lake on the other. The sun is down, but the moon and the stars, along with all the flashlights, give you light. Sleepy and out of it, you sit next to the green, paint-peeling railing along the side. The waterfall makes a nice noise. The parents talk below, you hear music and laughter and moms talking and dads playing guitars. You hear your friends talking and you laugh over stupid things. You're sleepy and cold but don't want to ask the older kids for their sweatshirts. Your little sister and cousins are washing up and soon your mom will call you back.

Everything seems peaceful. You're a little thirsty and tired. Nobody's mean or hurt and nobody's making fun of anyone else. The park rangers are out and won't yell at you for making dams or screaming or keeping the campsite awake like last time. A bit of smores still remains on the side of your mouth. The big girls talk and compare cell phones and sing and laugh a bit. The older boys fish and, well, watch the girls compare cell phones and sing and laugh.

Later.
You're in your bright orange tent, the sounds of camp in your ears. The waterfall and sleeping kids in the tents next to yours. The sound of the adults lazily sipping juice boxes and water bottles and talking about how wet their kids got, how muddy their kids were, how TIRED their kids were. The teenagers stand outside singing the Ugly Betty theme song outside your tent, the girls tripping over tent ropes and their boyfriends coming to rescue them. They're making noise but the adults told them to shut up and sleep. You hear the moms and dads lumber into their tents and someone puts out the fire.

The teenagers continue to sing until you go outside and tell them they're off-key and you're trying to sleep so they need to shut up. Then their mothers and fathers come and tell them it's time to turn in and you go to your sleeping bag and fall asleep.

-This was the church camping trip two years ago, on the first night. For the record, yes, the youth were singing rather obnoxiously outside our tent and it was driving me crazy. Next time they do that, I'm going to start singing the Camp Place song I made up in their faces.

(The Camp Place song lyrics:)

Going to Camp Place, (clap, clap)
Going to Camp Place, (clap, clap)
We're going to Ca-amp Pla-ace!
Swimming, (clap, clap)
Fishing, (clap, clap)
Food and water too! (clap, clap)
And that's all there i-is to-o dooo!