The other night, I had a scary dream.
I dreamed that I was in a cabin in Vermont. I was there with several adults and at least 3x as many children. Before we went to the cabin, I checked the weather. Along with the weather report (which I don’t remember) was a warning that werewolves were sighted in [???] and were headed in a northwesterly direction (which meant toward my cabin).
The other adults and I spent the day prepping the cabin for the eventuality that werewolves would attack that night, when I would be alone with at least 6 kids. We closed all windows. We fortified. We stashed kids in center rooms. I don’t know what else we did, but I started to plan for the fact that I would not sleep. I did not only have charge over my own children, but several others. I was scared shitless. Of werewolves.
Eventually, I asked my father (a gun person) for a gun to protect myself (and the children) with. He chuckled at me, the liberal gun-control enthusiast, for requesting such an item, and handed me a palm-sized weird looking pistol which his father had given him, and which I imagined falling a larger than life werewolf with ease.
When I was still 1/2 asleep, I was imagining what it would be like to go to the Vermont cabin which I have stayed in for my entire life (in real life) in the aftermath of that dream. How it would be difficult not to remember my fear, and the impending danger. How I would lie in the room with the sliding glass doors, staring and waiting for a man-sized figure to fill the shadowy frame of the doorway, fully able to crash through the glass and rip my throat out.
Then I woke up, and thought about how I needed to forget the dream before we go camping in Vermont. Because as scary as it is to think of a werewolf’s ability to crash through the glass, it’s even scarier to think of how anyone, anything, can open a tent zipper. Right?
We leave for camping on Sunday morning. The four of us have been camping at least twice, and Beloved and I have been much more. We always have had a great time. We have 2 tents – one smaller (2 person) backpacking tent (the second one we purchased) which Beloved and I have occupied, because it seems more delicate and was a good deal more expensive, and one 4 person tent, which we have in the past given to the girls, along with toys and books and activities (they were at least 4 years younger, since we haven’t camped since moving to this coast). At one point, we also had a “play tent” where the girls were able to hang out and play during the day without endangering our pricier tents. They have outgrown that one now, by far.
Today Beloved came home from work with some news – schedules have been changed and staff has shifted. As a result, his hours are tweaked and responsibilities increased.
What does this mean?
He can’t take off from work on Tuesday. We were supposed to be leaving on Sunday and returning on Wednesday. Because of our Europe trip, he was holding off on telling his work-folk that he would be missing yet another day. This above news came before his announcement. Oops.
Which means either a) we cancel camping, b) we change our camping dates (when we made the reservations, the days before and after were booked), or c) he leaves on Monday evening and returns after work on Tuesday evening.
We are thinking option (c) is wisest. I don’t want to (won’t) cancel, and changing the dates is likely impossible.
The resulting questions:
- If he takes the car, what will the girls and I do all day?
- Can I build a fire and cook dinner on my own?
- Will the werewolves rip my throat out in his absence?
I assume the answers are as follows:
- We will explore the riverbed, go for a hike, and walk into town to visit the cafe, the country store and the other town-like attractions;
- Yes. I am as capable as he is.
- No? Even though I’ll likely sleep in the 4-man tent with the girls and will be awake with some sort of sharp instrument in my hand and a flashlight on my chest “keeping watch” all night long.
Honestly – I do not believe in werewolves. [This thought brought me great comfort when I awoke on Sunday morning.]
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