Bugs and Love

Our 20th anniversary is approaching so I have been traveling down memory lane and thought this might bring a chuckle. Especially to those who know us.

Many years ago, before my husband and I were married, he decided that we should go camping to his spot on the Moose River Plains.  He wanted to show me one of his favorite places in the world and I, being smitten, wanted to see it. After all, it is an honor to be invited in to something so special. So he packed whatever was necessary for the trip and I took a couple of days off from work and we headed out.  He loaded his pack with gear and I made sure I had the right boots.  Essentially, he did all the work and I attempted to look pretty.

We drove off of a dirt road and he was excited that to get to this place, it now only took a three-mile walk instead of the usual six because they had finally paved part of the road in. As soon as we got out of the car and into the heat…wait let me back up! It was the end of June in the Adirondack foothills.  Anyone who knows this area knows that it is ripe with black flies and mosquito’s. At this point, B had thought that they would be gone because they had been torturous on his trip four weeks prior. But, alas, they were hearty as ever and greeted us like lost loved ones as we exited his car.  We made a mad dash to apply bug spray and get our gear on so that we could leave this particular spot that he thought would be worse because of the location to a swampy area.  So we did and we had a pleasant albeit buggy walk into the spot.

When we arrived at our destination, it was beautiful! Serene, right on the river, beautifully open. Completely isolated. We set our tent, (he set our tent, I got in the way, that is my strength).  It was a lovely afternoon of him fishing and me doing whatever I was doing. The bugs had abated in the openness so we were all good.  We had a yummy dinner which he cooked (actually, it might have been fish!) and we looked at the stars like the young- big-eyed- in- love people we were.

Fast forward to nighttime when my imagination started.  He was happily snoring away next to me and I knew I had to be on alert.  So I was, and every now and again I would nudge him,

“B, what is that?”

“B, did you hear that?”

“B, is that a bear??”

He patiently listened and answered and fell back to sleep…snoring.  So now that the noises were identified, I relaxed enough myself to get to sleep.

Suddenly, there was a huge crack of thunder followed by lightning!   It made me jump, and he quelled me, “It’s okay, it’s just a storm…” he said soothingly and put his arm around me.  I was internally appalled.  Just a storm? As the winds blew and the thunder and lightning hit and we laid under trees…next to a river…do you have a frontal lobe???  We will die.  Yes, how romantic, we will die together.

To ensure we didn’t die together that night I stayed up until the storms passed.  I wanted to say, “I got your back even if you are too oblivious to know that I need to have your back, but really dude, someone needs to be paying attention here!”

In the end I had about two hours sleep.

When I woke up, he was blissfully fishing and trying to avoid the bugs.  It seems the rain brought them back.  But, my optimistic, can do boy was determined that this was going to make me love camping in the deep woods so he got my coffee ready and started some pancakes. The bugs were relentless and violated my privacy in so many ways! (People could not believe the amount of bites I had!) They dove into his batter like kamikazes and the weather started to turn again. Then true love spoke…like angels with bells ringing,

“What if we pack up and just go to my cousin’s camp?” he asked as I looked at the batter.

“YES!”

So we did and it was so much better. Shelter. Shelter. Shelter.

This is one of my favorite stories to remember because we were laughing a lot of the time before and after! He is merciless with me in his recap.  It is well-earned!

I do love camping…we have done it many times since just not back woods.  I know who I am.  But I love this memory because it really illustrates our relationship well.  I am a spaz and he works around it.  Even then I just wanted him to be happy and he just wanted me to be happy.  I think that is how we have gotten to twenty years.  So many things have happened along the way but our primary focus for the most part has always been the well-being of the other.  We stumble along as we do it, but I believe in a path of good intentions. So far so good!

Does any of this sound familiar?  Am I the only one who is a big baby about being eaten alive?? I’d love to hear your stories!