A chilly wet holiday weekend

Iris in the rain

Today was a cloudy rainy day and a little bit on the chilly side. It was the kind of day that makes me feel sorry for the folks that are packed into the state parks trying to have a good time on a holiday weekend.

A lot of young families don't have cozy warm RVs to stay in while camping at the lake. Most of them are sleeping in cold wet tents just like I used to do long long ago.

Young families usually aren't financially well-off enough to afford an RV. And since one or more of the parents are working full-time they normally don't have enough free time to justify owning an RV which will just sit in the yard for most of its life slowly disintegrating.

I can recall when I was young and raising a family how much I looked forward to holiday weekends when I could finally get a break from whatever drudgery I was being paid to perform, and be able to relax in a stress free environment while spending quality time with the family.

But the reality was, between the mosquitoes, the wet sleeping bags, the leaking air mattresses, my car that needed a transfusion of radiator water, and oil about every hundred miles, there really wasn't all that much relaxing going on.

Then late Monday night we would come dragging home tired, sunburned, and grumpy, more stressed out and worn out than when we left Friday afternoon.

I wonder sometimes how I made it through all that because it seems like it would've been easier and more relaxing just to stay at home. But on this chilly, rainy, holiday weekend I got to thinking about all those young families down at the lake. huddled in leaky tents and wet sleeping bags and slowly realized.... Those were the good times.

    theboondork

soon to be Iris flowers

A rainy Saturday in Denver