Many experiences have passed through our lives that I would call "memorable" and yet I do not remember them. So today will be the beginning of an effort to remember more of those stories - namely what took place this past Memorial Day weekend.
Over the past eight years of our marriage I have been trying to coax Ryan out into the woods with our family to create idyllic camping experiences that I am positive are just waiting to be discovered by us. For example, there was the two day road trip from North Carolina to Texas during which I, pregnant as usual, threw-up in a Walmart bag the entire way yet insisted we drive around until we found a state park to spend the night. Of course it didn't matter that we hadn't packed a tent. My idea was that we just empty all the carseats out onto the ground and make the van our bed. Then there was my my idea to pull over in a Walmart parking lot in 100 degree weather on a trip from North Carolina to Wisconsin and make our bed in a similar fashion. Even I have bad memories of being sticky and sweaty and generally discontent. Also, I was underwhelmed by the "breakfast" I had packed of boiled eggs for just that occasion the next morning. Needless to say, Ryan felt like he had given "camping" with me and the girls a fair shot and I agreed to let the matter drop for a few years.
The scars must have finally faded because recently Ryan has shown renewed interest in sleeping outside in a tent with the five of us ladies. So for Memorial Day weekend he decided to surprise me and reserve a campsite on the beach at Fort Pickens State Park. He called the park and his conversation with the Ranger went something like this.:
Ryan - "I was wondering if you still have any campsites available for Memorial Day weekend."
Ranger - "Well, yes we do, just a couple."
Ryan - "Then I would like to reserve one for my family."
Ranger - "Your family?"
Ryan - "Yes."
Ranger - "By 'family', do you mean your wife?"
Ryan - "Yes . . . my wife and my kids . . ."
Ranger - "Oh . . ."
(silence)
Ranger - "You do know that Pensacola is famous for a certain activity every Memorial Day weekend, right?'
Yes, my husband narrowly escaped surprising me and our daughters with reserving a campsite in the middle of the Gay Pride weekend beach party scene. Resolved to change this momentary deterrent into a weekend of fun family memories Ryan researched other state parks in the area and found places with waterfalls, hiking trails, paddle boats and gems. And once again he called to make reservations. Unfortunately for us other campers plan ahead, and everything we found was already booked to capacity. Still determined to sleep in a tent somewhere we settled on Eglin Air Force base because they do not take reservations. We packed the car with high hopes. This would be the first camping trip with everyone out of diapers. It had to go well.
Why I was surprised with the following turn of events I don't know. Even on our most successful camping trip Lucy threw-up in the tent, all over the car, etc. This camping memory was not going to be that elusive idyllic experience. Before we even arrived at our campsite Ryan pulled over and told me to drive him immediately to the emergency room on base. He was having trouble breathing and his heart was beating irregularly. Still the optimist, I went ahead and set up our tent after dropping Ryan off and waited for his call to come get him. When he did call it was with the bad news that the doctors were very concerned about his lab work. They wanted to keep him overnight in the ICU. Since it was already late I prepared the girls for bed and tried to keep from worrying about Ryan until we had more information the next day.
At about 10:30, however, I woke up from a restless sleep to the crack of blinding lightening all around us. I have never been so terrified in my life. We were caught in a tent under a tree in the most intense lightening storm I have ever witnessed. The sky was purple and the lightening was so close and constant I could hardly see for the brightness of it all. After about twenty minutes of praying and rocking myself and wondering which of my children would die that night and how they would react if I was the one that died, I decided that I had had enough and I took the chance of waking them up one by one and throwing them in the minivan. Each trip back and forth I feared for our lives. As soon as all my disoriented children were in a moving contraption with rubber wheels I closed the doors and we drove away to the nearest hotel. It could only get better - I thought.
The next morning I got the phone call I had been waiting for. Ryan said that the doctors had decided to keep him yet another night in the ICU. He still had no answers about his heart condition. At this point I officially was done with camping. We drove back to our tent site to get our shoes so we could visit Ryan at the hospital. In my hurry to escape our tent the night before I made the decision not to hang around outside and collect everyone's flip flops. And to be honest, it was a little strange eating the complimentary hotel breakfast together barefoot. Of course after the lightening storm it rained, and I had also made the decision not to bother zipping up the tent. This meant that all six of our sleeping bags were soaking wet, as well as the stuffed animals, blankets, etc. So I spent the next few hours scattering our belongings all over the camp to dry out in the sun because I had every intention of packing the car that morning. We made some s'mores while we waited. The girls even took one to their new friend the Ranger. (I think because he office was air conditioned.) Before long we left the campsite without a trace of ever having stayed there.
The staff at the hospital got our family situated at the "Fisher House" which to my best estimate is like the "Ronald McDonald House." Our rooms were very comfortable and for the first time we felt like our vacation was taking a turn for the better. The doctors even discharged Ryan early. They were functioning with limited staff because of the holiday weekend and were not able to conduct any of the tests that they thought might give us more answers about his condition. Their one directive to Ryan was that he not do anything stressful.
Hah.
Within a couple hours of his release we decided to go for a family walk. I picked a well-beaten trail I thought would give us the illusion of having a camping experience yet be mild on the activity scale. After a short while we came across a smaller trail that seemed to lead straight to our car through the trees. Ryan took Lucy and Charis to scout it out while I held up Joy on the side of the woods, because as usual, she had to pee every fifteen minutes. All of a sudden I heard Ryan yelling in pain and groaning in the most sickening way. I thought surely he was having a heart attack out there in the woods and I couldn't put Joy down because she was still peeing. When I did come to his aid he was covered in hornet stings. A swarm of hornets had attacked him and stung him eight times from his neck down to his toes. I literally could not process that things were still getting worse. Somehow he managed to hobble out of the woods. I bought him Benadryl and Tylenol, and he basically stayed in bed after that.
We still did manage to make good memories for the girls while we stayed at the Fisher House that weekend. But for Ryan and me it was slightly traumatizing. I am happy to say that the stings are on the mend. And as for the heart condition, we still do not have any good answers yet; but a cardiologist has been monitoring Ryan's care, and has ruled out all of the scary diagnosis that came to mind. Our camping gear is packed neatly again in our storage unit. I'm not sure this time who will be convincing whom to camp next. I think we're pretty happy at home for the moment.
