Camping Alone

I hated sleeping anywhere but my own bed.  But on the weird side, I also really loved to go camping.  If I was really honest with myself, when I was sleeping outside, that’s really when I got the best sleep.  I was nervous to go camping alone, but so far the benefits of a solid night’s sleep outweighed any feelings of sleeping outside.   

The best but also scariest camping adventure I had was when I went to the local state park to camp for the weekend.  I went camping at the lake on a fairly regular basis and had a spot I tried to grab every chance I could, especially when my parents were fighting.  I had never before been nervous about camping by myself because I had spent so much time outside that I was aware of the noises that came along with being outside at night.  The only thing that managed to make me nervous that night was the lack of noise.  There were no owls, no scampering of raccoons or opossums, no parties at neighboring campsites.  Nothing. 

I didn’t sleep much as I waited for noise and worked myself up over why there wasn’t as much as a peep.  When the sun finally came up, I debated on how long I would wait before unzipping my tent.  As soon as I was brave enough, I saw him.  I instantly knew why there was no noise and started to make a plan as he lumbered my way.