I Keep Trying, But It Ain't Working Out

And once again, I've learned - I am not a happy camper.

Literally. I don't generally find happiness in camping. It's just not my thing. I keep trying (kind of), to see if I've changed, but I haven't. The great outdoors and I were never meant to be more than casual friends.

I went on a retreat this weekend with my ward from church this weekend. And it was really fun. I quite enjoyed it all. I had a lot of fun driving up to Northern Maryland with friends, stopping at the new Cafe Rio nearby for dinner (I don't think that place was prepared for such good business Friday night - 200 hungry Mormons all in the area at the same time?! What!?!); I rocked out at the dance party we busted out as we unpacked our car; I liked seeing a lot of friends and making a lot of new friends for 48 hours; I love love loved playing ultimate frisbee in the rain Saturday morning/afternoon for 2 hours. There were a lot of things I really liked about this weekend retreat.

But I didn't love the sudden, unannounced, party-crashing entrance of Autumn - where did you come from so suddenly?  I didn't love sleeping in freezing cabins (though I'd take that over a tent ANY DAY) during sub-freezing nights when most of us were ill-prepared for such conditions. I don't love getting very little sleep for 2 nights in a row when it's my weekend and that's when I usually compensate for lack of sleep from the previous week...and I don't like that even when I'm having fun, I still can feel cranky about sleep and cold.

BUT, my attitude managed much better than I anticipated. After a rough Friday night of sleep, I really enjoyed myself despite bringing a poor choice shoewear for the unexpected rain and having just about every piece of clothing I brought end up wet from the sudden downpour (I grossly under-packed, for the second time in my life - which is why I will always over-pack the rest of it). But it was really quite fun, and surprisingly relaxing - there's something about knowing you won't be doing anything you'd normally 'need' to do on a Saturday that keeps you feeling rather at peace and relaxed. The shoulder massage I got from a friend Saturday night didn't hurt my relaxation either.

All that said - next time, I'll stick with the boys who booked into a hotel 20 minutes away, and stayed warm while they slept at night and showered in a nice bathroom each day.

That's my kind of roughing it.