Together Again

I have my boy back! The drive to camp was long--I had to take a detour along a dirt road because of road construction--but I made it to camp around 3:00 Friday afternoon. The campers were having rest hour on their platforms so I waited on the tree swing just outside the boy's area while someone went to tell Jerry I'd arrived. I barely had time to take in my surroundings (huge oak trees, barn, horses grazing in the pasture, Gates Mountain in the distance) before Jerry came running up the hill with a huge smile on his face.

There were mosquito bites all over his face and legs; he was so covered in dirt his belly button might have sprouted something given seed and a bit of water; and an angry rash (courtesy of the California campers' nemesis, poison oak) ran up one arm and down the other. He didn't quite look like the Jerry I'd left three weeks earlier.

We did the standard sappy movie reunion: ran toward one another and threw our arms around each other then held on for dear life--we even stayed put while the sprinkler shot a blast of water straight at us (it was hot).

For the rest of the day we just hung out together. He took me down to his platform, we sat under the apple trees and talked, went to the wood shop where I watched him make a couple mini skateboard ramps. We ate dinner with the campers and went to the dance to celebrate the final night, then we sat around the campfire and sung while the stars slowly filled the sky above us. At bedtime we went off to our separate sleeping quarters (Jerry on his platform and me in one of the little cabins) but Jerry came up to see me bright and early the next morning after he'd waved good-bye to all the campers leaving on the bus and we had a nice cuddle before heading down for breakfast.

We could have left anytime but Jerry lingered. He didn't seem quite ready for camp to end. But eventually we said our goodbyes and headed down the road. We stopped for lunch in the nearest town, and stopped a few more times along the way because Jerry was carsick.

Finally, though, we made it back to my mom and dad's where the boy was reunited with his dog.
We'll be staying here for the week while we wait for the HSC Homeschooling Conference to begin. My parents have gone off to visit my sister in Ireland so it's kind of quiet. Since we got here we've gone to the movies, spent lots of time in the pool, listened to some Harry Potter on CD and done lots of lounging. Today we're heading down to the bay area to pick up Jerry's camp duffle bag (wouldn'tcha know it ended up on the bus?!), visit some friends and go to the Exploratorium in San Francisco. We're definitely enjoying being together again.