Camp “What Do You Need?”

Last week, I signed up for “Camp Back to School.”  If you missed that piece, you can find it here:  Camp “Back to School”

I love the idea of “Camp Back to School.” It’s a sneaky way to help me do the things on my “to do” list, many of which are good for me but which I sometimes balk at. At “Camp Back to School” I pretend that I am at summer camp with a kind, encouraging camp counsellor who cheerfully but firmly guides my daily schedule. She’d energetically wake me up at the right time in the morning, and I would never hit the snooze button. I’d follow her lead from one planned, helpful, occasionally challenging, yet growth producing, activity to the next. There would be snack breaks and tea breaks. It would be fun. I would be so productive, and not even realize it!

Today, though, even the thought of “Camp Back to School” seems like a little much. So I might enroll in a different camp, even if it’s just for a few days. I’ll call it, “Camp What Do You Need?”

Because this week the world took another turn toward darkness.

(Maybe you should skip this next paragraph, because it’s all terrible and so depressing, and I’m probably not telling you anything that you don’t know already.)

There was Afghanistan and teenagers clinging to airplanes and dying, and Afghan babies being tossed to U.S military personnel so they would be safe. There was the rain on a summit in Greenland for the first time ever. There was the Caldor Fire in the El Dorado National Forest, a good distance across the canyon from us, but visible on Tuesday when I dropped my son off at school.  It started Monday, but jumped to 6500 acres Tuesday, then to around 23,000 the next day, and now stands at more than 90,000 acres with zero percent containment. 90,000 acres. It is mind boggling. Hundreds of homes are gone, and potentially many more; the folks with the unenviable job of tabulating such losses still can’t venture into all of the burned area to see how bad it is.

It’s pretty bad.

So I have a hard time thinking about something as routine and lovely as “Camp Back to School” when ashes are falling from the sky (like they were in the parking lot where I worked yesterday) and the air is hazardous and evacuation shelters are springing up for Californians in Nevada, of all places. Camp Back to School is for “normal” times, when the world is not on fire and the wind is friendly instead of menacing.

Never fear, though. The good counsellors from “Camp Back to School” won’t abandon us. They just bring in replacements, the good folks from “Camp What Do You Need?”

In “Camp What Do You Need?” the daily routine has a lot of flexibility. You can spend time crying. You can sleep in a little later and hit the snooze button. You can read your book all day long. You can eat pizza and forget your low carb habit.  You can sit outside on the hammock and not do anything at all. It’s a great idea to do a short-term “news fast,” and turn off your social media checking for a day or so.

There might be some overlap between the two camp schedules. I’m fairly certain that a long walk with my dog would be part of “Camp What Do You Need.” Also tea with cream and good food. And reading my book. But all the other stuff?  Like the pushups and calisthenics and website work and blog polishing? I might take a break from those. Not forever, but for a day or two. Maybe today I will just rest.

Because these are days that none of us have ever experienced before, days that are taking a lot out of me. Every time I hear a plane overhead, or sirens, I go to the window and look for smoke, and then I check the local news “Happening Now” website to see if a new fire has broken out. We thought our River Fire was earth shattering, and it was, especially for the 60 plus families who lost their homes. But now, just on the other side of the canyon, there is a monstrous fire that is heading toward 100,000 acres in just a week’s time, and 30,000 people are evacuated. That could have been us. It could be us tomorrow.

I used to always put my phone on airplane mode when I went to sleep. I read somewhere that it’s better for your health, especially your brain, not to be exposed to the cellular wave thingies. I don’t do that anymore, though. My phone is plugged in and on, all the time. Because you never know when the next fire will start, and when the next evacuation orders will be issued. My neighbor recommended that I start parking my car facing out, so that if we have to make a quick getaway, we don’t waste time turning around, especially if there is smoke and ash flying around.

Good thing there is “Camp “What Do You Need.” My counsellor from there is tapping me on the shoulder, telling me that it’s time for “lights out.” Time for bed. But I’m keeping my phone on. And praying for better news tomorrow.