Camping is Like Childbirth...

We went to Jackson Lake in northeast Colorado over Labor Day weekend. We borrowed a pop-up camper, which was a heck of a lot more comfortable than sleeping in a tent on the hard ground. Regardless, I couldn't help draw parallels between spending time in the great outdoors and pushing out a near-9 lb baby...

1) It's more painful than you remember - from the loading and unloading of all the gear to trying to get settled on a thin mattress in a strange bed, nothing about camping is comfortable (though I didn't get to lounge around drinking beer in the maternity ward...).


2) It takes a long time to prepare for what ultimately doesn't last that long - granted, it wasn't 10 months of gestation like pregnancy, but between the coordinating with friends, planning menus and preparing meals, and digging out and sorting through all our gear, I spent a solid week organizing a three day, two night excursion. At least I wasn't having intermittent contractions at the same time...


3) No matter how organized you are before you go, you end up bringing home a lot of random stuff in utter disarray.


4) You spend a lot of time sitting around waiting for things to happen with no clear idea of how long you'll be there (though beer and S'mores make for easier relaxing than ice chips and apple juice).

5) There's no easy way to take a shower while you're in the middle of it, and by the time everything settles down and you can finally luxuriate under a showerhead, you get interrupted by a crying baby.

But when all is said and done, you end up with stories to tell, photos to share, and memories to savor. Unlike childbirth, though, we will be going camping again!

*Jack's new Harry Potter scar came courtesy of a face plant in the gravel and, a mere ten minutes later, an accidental whack with a board book by his brother.