Camp Wild, Camp Covid

Robin has a very good friend, Viki, who is an artist.  An example of her art would be an older van that she bought, and then decorated the entire vehicle with her amazing art. To see the van coming down the street is a real show stopper, it definitely grabs your attention.  Viki and her husband Tom live in a very nice house, the yard of which falls sharply away to a small stream.  Generally the stream has a very low level of water and flow, but certain times of the year it can get out of its bank.  For this reason they have left a big swath of their property behind the fenced portion of their yard au naturale. Well sort of… Tom keeps the undergrowth cut back and has created trails for the grandkids through this “flood zone” using mulch.  There is also a play house and hammock back there for the grandchildren… or perhaps the hammock is for Tom!

They have a total of 4 grandkids, two of which live in the St. Louis area and two more that live in California. Last July the Golden State contingent came in for a month long visit.  Wanting to keep the children from being bored, keen on creating memories for both the grandparents and grandchildren, Viki had a wonderful brainstorm of having a 5 day camp for the kids that included many activities in the wilderness behind their house.  She elicited the aid of Senora aka Robin for what became known as Camp Wild.  They managed to keep the grandkids and themselves busy for all 5 days. They had a scavenger hunt, tied-dyed various articles of clothing, celebrated a drum circle, and much, much more.  Each of the kids painted their spirit animal and from these a totem pole was made.  And, of course, there were camp songs galore and fun foods – good and plenty.  Senora came home each day she was at Camp Wild with her heart full of love and her soul full of joy. Without a doubt it will be a story the kids will tell all their lives.

Fast forward a couple months to September, most of us have deluded ourselves into believing the pandemic is waning, that the situation is better as so many have been vaccinated. Viki, missing her social circle, remembering how much fun she had with the camp concept with her grandchildren decides it would be a phenomenal idea to have a similar camp for adults, calling it Camp Covid this time.

Robin and Viki have a circle of long time friends that tend to socialize together. They include Art and Erica, Howie and Laurie, Stewart and Marie, Ron and Sheri, Robin’s brother Mike and his wife Jane, Jane’s twin sister Joan and her husband Mark, of course Viki’s husband  Tom, and they are gracious enough to allow me, as Robin’s plus one, to tag along occasionally.  Invitations went out to all these folks as well as Viki’s parents, Frank and Evelyn, and Viki’s brother Mark and his wife Jane.  Viki, Tom and Robin put their heads together and started planning Camp Covid.

The day of the party came, and it was a beautiful fall day in St. Louis, perfect for a party on Viki and Tom’s deck.  Robin had riffed on Swing Low, Sweet Chariot and created a song just for the occasion, and she led us in a sing along to get the festivities rolling.  There was a scavenger hunt in the Lewis & Clark Wilderness Area made famous by Camp Wild.  Stewart, whose mobility is slightly impaired currently, acted as judge for the scavenger hunt.  In the end, from desperation at our competitiveness  and OCDness, he declared all of us winners. Each of us in the hunt found a rock painted by Viki with our name on it. And what would a camp be without S’Mores, the first ones I had eaten since, well a long time. We put them together and roasted them over Tom’s new play pretty, a Solo stove.  Viki had created, and stuffed boxes full of Covid memorabilia for each of us. It was a brilliant excuse to get us all together since many of us had not seen each other since the start of the pandemic.

Oh, I forgot one of the most important and fun activities.  Viki had charged us all to bring something white and cotton or linen so we could tie-dye them.  Scarves were brought, as well as t-shirts, and at least one white dress shirt. I had pondered on it for a while, not having anything I wanted to tie-dye, l stumbled on the idea of tie-dying some boxer shorts. Only owning plaid, I bought a 5 pack (smallest quantity I could find) of white boxers, 4 of them were dyed as I reserved one to remain white.  Running around in white boxers somehow reminds me of my father, apparently white boxers were the de rigueur undergarment for seamen back in the day.  So now about every 3rd or 4th day if you will peek under my carpenter jeans you might find some tie-dyed boxers… eat your heart out J. Crew models.

The way the pandemic is shaking out we may need to have another Camp Covid, this time to drive a silver stake through the malignant heart of Count Covid.  In any event thank you Tom, Viki and Robin for a fun time.

And so it goes.

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