This week Georgie was on his 6th grade sleepover trip. They left at the crack of dawn on Monday morning and headed up/over/down/north/south to a well respected and highly regarded nature reserve to study the sequoias for several days and summarily bond with his fellow 6th graders. You might notice that I am being vague about exactly where he was and what the name of the nature center was. The reason? I honestly don't know where he was.I went to the parents orientation. I heard all about what they were going to do - - hiking, campfires, wading in cold mountain water, making s'mores, hugging trees, etc. I felt comfortable that it was going to be a well supervised trip and educationally worthwhile four days. I packed his bags with him using the packing list supplied by said "highly regarded nature reserve." I dropped him off at school at the previously mentioned crack of dawn. I waved good-bye. And then I realized - - I had no friggin idea where he was headed. What kind of mother am I? More to the point, do you think I asked any of the other parents where they were going? Hell, no. What kind of an idiot doesn't know exactly where their child is going for the next 4 days? Obviously an idiot that looks exactly like me. I consoled myself with the facts that I knew.
I knew that he was going to be in the State of California. I knew that his altitude was going to be greater than 8,000 (thanks to a long lecture by the naturalist at the parents orientation on the possibility that the kids would suffer altitude sickness - -I packed the requisite two 2 liter stainless steel water bottles). I knew that there would be ginormous trees there. I knew that he was within a 5 hour drive of the school assuming the speed of a very large touring bus. I knew that Henry, who is reigning king of google earth, could help me find him. Ultimately, I knew that bad news travels damn fast and would likely be accompanied with necessary directions.
In the end, there was no bad news, no need to use google earth and Georgie arrived home safe and sound last night from wherever he was. While I don't know exactly where he spent the last four days, I now know that sequoias produce some of the smallest pine cones of all pine-like trees. When I asked Georgie what was the most interesting thing he learned on his trip he said, "You can't judge the size of the tree by the pine cone." Words to live by. I never did ask him where he was.
1 comment:
Clearly Georgie is a second child. I imagine with Shannon you made sure you were on the school trip.
It's the same with my parents. With my older sister, my mother would track her down to the ends of the earth. With me, she more or less had an idea where I was. Most of the time. With my younger sister, I think my mother just consoled herself that Mary was fine because the police hadn't called.
Post a Comment