camping

I've put our tent up in the garden and Mathew and I are going to sleep in it tonight. This has filled us both with a wonderful feeling of excitement. Me especially!
We're going to watch a film together in our pyjamas with a hot chocolate and some snacks and then venture out into the wilds and enjoy a night under the stars. I'm calling it a 'Home Holiday' to lessen the shock of the post-vacation blues and to stop him asking constantly when we can go back to Ireland. It'll be fun. Obviously, I have to get up at a sensible hour to get ready for work, but he is such an early riser that I don't think it will be an issue, and as there's only about 20 minutes of darkness per night at the moment it's not as if it's likely we'll oversleep. Philippa has asked why I didn't plan it tomorrow and I said, "because, my love, if it goes well tonight, we can do it again tomorrow. If Saturday was our first night, it would be our only night, as I can't imagine you wanting Mathew outside in a tent on a Sunday night before a school day." Or something like that. I probably didn't put it quite as well as that, but I'm a writer, not a talker, I guess.
Anyway - the point is, once you're in the tent with the doors closed you could literally be anywhere, so I'll be getting him to imagine all sorts of amazing places that we might have pitched up, and encourage him to explore them all in his mind. Halfway up Mount Everest, in the Grand Canyon, next to Lake Titicaca, even on the Moon; wherever he decides to place us I shall go along with it and encourage it. Because I honestly believe the most important gift we can give our children is the gift of imagination.

RC 27-6-25