The Color Purple

Today, my oldest daughter came back from Summer camp, and my middle daughter came back from camping with friends.


As I am sure you have just been losing sleep over all of the unanswered questions I posted about the camp letters, I thought I would answer them for you.


"How was your day?"
Which day? She was there for four days.


"Are you having fun?"
Yes, she did. I even signed the permission slip to allow her to go on the brand new zip line. My hand felt a bit shaky signing it, after reading about all the possible disasters that could come from her riding it. I figured, that if I allowed her to go to Cedar Point, and ride all of those death-defying roller coasters, what's a little zip line? I know they have to cover their rears by posting all of the potential dangerous possibilities (equipment could malfunction, she could run into someone or something, fall, break bones, or even.....*gasp* DIE) but do they know what that does to a Mama's heart when she signs those slips?

Moving right along....

"Did you make any new friends?"
Yes, she did. Mainly girls. They strongly discourage "purpling" between the girls and boys. What is purpling, you ask? Good question. I had no idea either. The girls are red/pink, and the boys are blue. If you put those colors together, what do you get? You got it....purple. They are not supposed to flirt with, or hang around with each other. My daughter assures me that it happens anyway, but hey, the camp at least tries.


While there, she also rode a horse. This is something she does every time, and yes, I have to sign a permission slip. Now, for this one, the potential danger actually seems more real. My dear Mother (I realize that the word mother is not supposed to be capitalized, but in my mind, she is so VERY special, it deserves a capital "M") was actually thrown off of a horse once (I believe she was around the age of 12 and was possibly at camp, but please don't quote me on this), and ended up looking UP at the horse from underneath it. Got that picture in your mind? Yeah....me too. Thankfully, other than a stubborn horse or two that refused to walk, and would rather eat the weeds, and shoved her into thorn bushes, we have not experienced any mishaps.


No one got the flu this time at camp, and that was very fortunate. Last year, when my middle daughter went to camp, they experienced a flu epidemic, and she came down with it on the very last day. Other children had to go home before her. She is a tough one. We had to pick her up in the main area, which was being used as a make-shift hospital of sorts. They had cots laid out, and children were on them, with garbage cans next to them. It was sad to see my little girl, just lying there, all sick.


My middle daughter (still haven't decided whether or not to use their "real" names, or make up some cool ones for them, so for now, this will have to do) also had a wonderful time camping with friends. Yes, even though I do not like camping, we have kind friends who take my kids along with them :) Last year, she almost had to go to the hospital because she had a severe allergic reaction to some sort of bug bite, and her arm had a baseball-sized lump on it (no joke). She also fell down some rocks, and severely gouged her knee. Good times. She still has a nasty scar from that. But, thankfully, this time she came home, and other than a few mosquito bites, is fine.


I am now washing the mountains of laundry that the two girls brought back with them. If you need me, I will be chained to the washing machine.