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Greetings From Camp Mommy

Do I wish I was here?

Elise LaChapelle
3 min readSep 2, 2022
Photo by Philip Serino via Pexels

It’s been thirty-three days. Thirty-three days that my children, having finished six weeks of summer camp and returned from our annual family beach trip, have been home with me 24/7. I knew it would be challenging to amuse an almost-five-year-old and her three-year-old sister, neither of whom takes daily naps, for that amount of time, but we did our best. We filled those thirty-three days with pools and creeks, zoos and museums, play dates and playgrounds. And now, with a mere four days to go until the start of school, I’m feeling as though I should have gained some new wisdom or knowledge from this experience, but I’m too tired to know what it is.

Maybe the lesson will reveal itself in time. Maybe my brain is just too maxed out to see it yet. Even if there’s no higher understanding that comes from having spent more than six weeks fielding questions about why there’s no houses on the highway while trying to merge onto one, at least I can always look back on this time with great affection and nostalgia.

Here’s what I’m afraid of: maybe I won’t.

I loved showing them how to throw rocks and leaves in the creek and watch the water carry them downstream. They were adorable riding a foam noodle together in the pool, pretending it was a horse, and holding hands while running up the street on…

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Elise LaChapelle
Elise LaChapelle

Written by Elise LaChapelle

I write about parenting, feminism, social justice, and whatever else pops into my head. Support me by joining Medium: https://bit.ly/4fo1Og7

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