Plastic bottles

As a child of the 70’s, I grew up in a house that had fairly lax ideas on environmentalism. Perhaps the plight of mother nature was on my parents’ minds and possibly it was something that gnawed on their conscience on the daily but a small part of me seriously doubts that. In fact, one of my most vivid memories of summer vacations are of long road trips with my family.

Several years ago, my now teenagers went off to sleep-away camp for the first time. On top of learning about getting organized for camp (the fun part), I also had to prepare everyone (OK, me) emotionally for being without my little darlings (the hard part). My newly minted eight-year-old will be going to sleep-away camp for the first time, for two weeks at the end of August. He will be my sixth child to attend sleep-away camp, and I find the same old worries creeping in. I knew I had to prepare myself for kids going to sleep-away camp. So, I’m reminding myself of three things: He might evolve This kid is my picky eater. I’m pretty sure he will starve for the entire two weeks. While one side of me is convinced of this, the other side knows that he might just start eating what everyone else is eating…

Friends On Road Trip In Convertible Car Taking Selfie

When I was single, I never hesitated to travel alone. I’d visit family out of province, go across the country for work, and even took university courses in Berlin one summer. I loved seeing the world, and I loved the freedom of traveling by myself with no one else to worry about. If I wanted to sleep in and waste the morning, I did. If I wanted to wake up at the crack of dawn to watch the sunrise over a castle, I did. I ate where and when I wanted to, went into every museum and shop that caught my eye, and never worried about inconveniencing someone else with my whims. It was glorious.