Camping/Birthday 8-23 to 8-26-2012

Thursday Richard and I headed out with Princess to go camping.  As I was packing up things I thought about Kathryn.  Her little poke-a-dot bag would be with us filled with Princess things and games.  She would be sitting with Princess as we drove out and making sure we had good music to listen to.  When we arrived we had a choice of sites.  There were not too many people there.  The sites with plugs were almost all taken but the tent sites were wide open.  I hope they never make those middle tent sites set up for RVs and such.  We set up pretty darn fast.  Richard and I headed to the beach to check things out and he taught me how to play some cribbage.  I think I had finally gotten the hang of it.  A bit later his girlfriend joined us.  We popped popcorn over the campfire and had a very nice evening.  My brother stopped by and sat around the campfire for an hour or two with us.  He shared some interesting stories with us.  It was a good evening.

One group of campers were really interesting.  The Mom and Dad yelled at the kids constantly.  The kids screamed and cried like I have never heard before.  It was awful.  We didn’t sleep well at all because of these neighbors.  They were loud all night yelling at the kids.  We were thinking that maybe they should take the kids to the beach!  That would be a novel idea.  I think a bunch of people complained to the ranger.  They were much better Friday night and Saturday night but during the day and early, very early morning there they were yelling at the kids and using their wonderful parenting skills to create a great camping experience for their children.  Why do people like that even have kids?  Our other camping neighbor actually asked them one morning if they needed assistance.  She was really upset with this situation.  It bothered everyone.  It was a display of how not to be as a parent.

Friday morning I was greeted with “Happy Birthday” Richard and Bee.  Also Scott had left a card under the floor mat of the truck.  We took a nice hike in the morning.  Princess loved that.  We let her off the leash so she could stop and sniff whenever she wanted to.  I remember taking the kids on this trail when they were small.  I would end up carrying one of them.  When I just had Richard I would have to carry him and then when Kathryn was small I would end up carrying her.  It is a long trail for a little one.  We would find cool things along the way like mushrooms, huckleberries and sticks.  After our walk and lunch we launched the boat and went for a boat ride.  We found a cool inlet that we explored a bit.  As we left and headed back we came across a ton of crab pots.  There was a whole bunch that we had to go through.  My friend Robyn came out to spend the night with us.  Scott and my Mom came out too.  We all had dinner and celebrated my birthday.  Scott and my Mom went home but Robyn stayed and spent the night.  Mitch and Pat came in after 10pm.  They drove down from Bellingham. 

Saturday was a beautiful day.  We spent the entire day on the water.  The kids went wakeboarding and we swam, floated and did stand up paddling.  Our camp neighbor also let us drive his seado.  This was really fun.  He even took my Mom for a ride.  Robyn went home in the afternoon but my Mom spent the night. 

It was really good to go camping.  I thought about Kathryn and as we talked around the dinner table Kathryn was in the stories that were shared.  It was good to know that we still talk about her and have fond memories of her.  I know last year I was really concerned about her when we went camping.  She wasn’t feeling well and she used the heat as a reason but I knew in my heart that it was her tumor.  We had gone over Labor Day weekend and by mid September her tumor was back and affecting her stride.  They said at that time they were not sure if it was tumor or radiation damage.  I didn’t know what to say or do at that time.  I was so lost as how I could make this go away.  I have never been so uncertain of what to do in my entire life.  Trying to help Kathryn was so confusing and stressful.  I didn’t know where to turn. All of the places I could go I had gone.  I just felt so helpless.  I couldn’t do anything to make her better.  I still pray for her to be brought back.  I miss her so much.  It still feels so unreal.

Sunday we came home.  All the kids worked well to pick up camp after a wonderful breakfast.  Then they all helped clean up once we got home.  Many hands make for light work.  It is true.  Once we were all settled and had most everything done I went through the mail.  There was our Verizon bill.  As you may have remembered I finally called and canceled Kathryn’s phone about a month ago.  It was so hard to do.  Well they had told me at the time they would not charge me for early cancellation for Kathryn’s phone since she passed away.  But there it was, an $80 charge for early cancellation.  So I called.  The young lady first told me they were fair charges and then I told her that Kathryn had passed away and of course my tears just raced down my cheeks.  I tried not to cry because I know it bothers Richard but I couldn’t hold it back.  They did reverse the charge, but we will see on the next bill if that is truly the case.  I also received more medical statements.  You would think that they could have had this all done by now.  Just a couple of weeks ago I got 5 or 6 pages of medical stuff from the insurance from August of 2011.  Now they send me another 3 or 4 pages from November of 2011.  This one I could have used for taxes or my flex plan but they sent it way late.  Actually I can still use it for flex plan.  It’s so frustrating to get things like this in the mail.  Or the bank sending a credit card for Kathryn.  That one really made me mad.  I cancelled it back in November because someone stole her number and charged illegally on it.  I told them not to send another ever.  After she passed away I closed her joint account with me.  She didn’t even have an account to do with this card.  Money is just too important to big institutions.  I tell you I felt like going to the bank and letting them know that they made a big mistake. I felt like cancelling everything I had with them and moving somewhere else.  But I know any other bank would be the same.  It would just be a big hassle for me.

Today is a beautiful day.  I was hoping Richard would stick around this week and work with Scott but I think he will head up to Bellingham today.  I will miss him.  I love having him around and Bee too.  I will be getting busy with school and all so my mind will have other things to think about.  My walking friends and I are joining the gym so we can exercise when it rains.  Spin classes….  Richard told me he took one once.  That was enough for him.  Well, I will do it and hopefully drop about 15 pounds.  It should be good.  I’m looking forward to it.

I hope you all get to go out and enjoy this beautiful day.