Nature gave me a chance to meditate on my situation.
On Tuesday, June 6th, the kids and I woke up and took our time getting ready to go. We left the house much later than I wanted to, as we had a 4-hour trip in front of us. All three of us were cranky and irritable. I almost cancelled the trip figuring we needed the rest. I knew deep down that we would rest and relax much better in nature, though … we just had to get there … without killing one another.
Emily drove. My son, Ian, slept sprawled out in the back, taking up the entire seat. At around 2 p.m. I got the call. The Methodist West Breast Center nurse called and told me the mass tested positive for cancer. But for any other information I would have had to call and talk to the gynecologist.
Okay. So at least I know.
I was in the car with the kids. Not the best time to get the news. But at least I know. Although, I think I already knew in my gut. This trip would give me the quiet time to meditate on my situation and decide how I wanted to be with this. I was leaning toward being curious. I am very healthy … so how did I get cancer. I was curious.
We arrived close to 5 p.m. The office closed at 4:30 p.m. The instructions posted outside the office said to choose your campsite and pay for it in the morning. I had paid for a walk-in campsite. We drove around looking for a campsite, trying to make sense of the layout. From the driveway connecting the campsites, you can’t see the walk-in campsites. We got out of the car to go to the bathroom and saw a path leading down to … well we just didn’t know where. Being the curious and adventurous types, we took the path. LOL. Ian wanted to leave Emily in the bathroom and start adventuring immediately. Ahh, sibling love.
The steep, wooded path wound toward the right, breaking open into a large green meadow. About 20 feet to our right, we saw a tent. And further on was another tent. I think we found the walk-in campsites. Just breathtakingly beautiful. And peaceful. Just what I needed.
We walked past several occupied campsites to find an empty spot and that felt like it belonged to us. We agreed. We found our spot, it felt right to all three of us. Just for a moment I was struck with the novelty that a parent and two teenagers all agreed on something. We moved the car to the correct parking lot and space. We started to unload, in fact, I think we had only made one trip collectively, when a young man confronted Ian near the parking lot, claiming he had reserved our campsite. Emily and I, standing at the campsite picnic table, could hear the young man, but we couldn’t hear Ian’s response. Knowing Ian doesn’t like confrontation, Emily sped up the path to rush to his defense. However, by the time she got there, Ian had taken care of the situation and I saw the young man stalking off.
