You Might Be On A Moms’ Camp Out

If it’s 8am, you roll over in your sleeping bag and your bestie says, ‘we’re still alive!’, then you might have had a mom’s campout.

You might have sat in lawn chairs on the steep river bank (the one where toddlers aren’t allowed to play around). But you just sat…..painted your nails….and sat some more…..like really, just sat like it was your job.

You might have slowly sipped on gin cocktails all day long. Then giggled with rocking feet on a bench swing, filling the darkness with all the conversations you somehow hadn’t managed to have yet.

You might have eaten cheeses and pepperonis, instead of the turkey lettuce wraps you planned on making for dinner. Because cheese.

You might have gone to bed at 9pm because you brought the wrong batteries for the lantern….and because you drank gin, not water, all afternoon….and cause you’re old and tired.

You might wake up at 3am and creep each other out with the sounds you hear in the smoked-in murkiness all around you.

You might have brought camping waffles to heat up for breakfast (Really, it’s a thing!).

You might have had indulgent conversations with women who you like more and more every time you get a chance to hang out with them. Each of you had your own unique road to get here.  Yet, all of you trying hard to navigate marriage, motherhood and the most important stuff in between all that.

You might have planned a mom’s campout because you had maxed your quota of uttering, ‘I need a break’.

You might have needed to be not-a-mom for a night. You might have thrown this together in desparation that summer is ending, and dates never seem to line up, and wallets never seem to agree on other plans, and you talk yourself out of all the other missed opportunities.

Moms usually take break in small doses around the house. Yes I’m talking to you sitting on the closed toilet seat with your iphone pretending the tacos got to you. Or spending an extra ten minutes in a parked car a block before your house. I don’t judge you, we all do it. We all are desparate to squeeze in some minutes of ‘solitude’, but these types of moments are rarely refreshing and relaxing.

We can’t get a break with running errands, sneaking in moments alone while under the mindset that it is a hasty stolen moment. However, a break doesn’t have to elaborate weekends of pampering and shopping. It doesn’t have to be complicated or pricey. But it is necessary. We can all care for our loved ones better when we are first taken care of.

So, go to the coffee shop with a girlfriend. Go read free magazines at the library. Park your car down by the lake, eat a burger and listen to a podcast. Maybe fill your trunk with blankets, booze and cheese and have a little camp out. Have a sitter come by for two hours and just go for a walk, asking yourself what you should be doing with your hands.

Whatever you need to do, make it happen mama……

And maybe I’ll see you at next year’s campout! There will be cheeeeese!