Cousin Camp

Written on Sunday:
In my experience events never turn out the way they are planned; they are either better or worse. Our Cousin Camp filled our past week. It is our first attempt at getting the grandchildren together for an extended amount of time, with just Layne and me in charge. How grateful I am that no more than 7 were with us. They were enough to keep us hopping. But not doing the things we had anticipated and planned for. Those babes bonded over their own invented play. Their play came about from a book that Mom has entitled, Roxaboxen. It is about a group of children that create a town out of a nearby hillside, using all sorts of left-over things they found lying about. Our babes decided to do the same in a patch of dirt on the side of Mom's house. So, for 4 days, they played in the mud. They managed to pull themselves away for meals and the occasional activity that we had planned for them. Then it was back to the mud. You may imagine what kind of mess that created. There were mud statues, bowls, fences, ponds, pots and mud ovens, used to bake these treasures in the sun. Who could have predicted that this would be the preferred activity? If only we had known, some of our planning could have been avoided.

Not that I'm complaining. I'm glad that they had fun. And fun it was. They used their imaginations and ingenuity to create a world of good times. It can't get better than that. I see now, more clearly than ever, that getting cousins together in bunches doesn't do much for bonding with grandparents, but does great things for bonding with each other. It was fun to see them enjoy each others company. We were the work force. That had its place and I believe it is worth doing again. But for special grandparent-grandchild bonding, there needs to be a smaller number to deal with.

We had fun each evening as we told the children scripture stories and family stories. They seemed to enjoy both. We sang, talked, shared stories and on several nights, enjoyed a movie and popcorn. They are great kids. By Saturday morning, all were gone and we lapsed into quiet. There is much to do to clean things up but, oh, it is so quiet. I like having time back but I miss the grandkids, and my own kids. I suppose I just don't like being so far apart for so much of the time of our lives. Mom, too, misses them. She gets high on people. I guess I do too even though I also like solitude. I guess it is good to enjoy both.

I'm taking pastel lessons again. After the kids left, I worked on trying my hand at recreating an old photo of my dad and his mom (my granny). I need more practice, but you can see my first effort here.

This past week reminds me once again that relationships are what life is all about. They are the priority. It takes work to make good memories with the people in our lives, but is is the best investment of all.