The was not my first time at this particular campground. In fact a number of years ago, when my 2 sons were young, we rode the C&O Canal Trail and stayed at this very same campground, for the very same reasons. On that particular occasion, I distinctly remembered that there was this entire family living in a tent. They weren't there just for the weekend. It was obvious that tent was their home. It was a big tent and they had rigged a blue tarp over it to increase its water resistance. Inside the tent they had a couch, recliner and TV set. It was really sad. Once the boys and I set up camp, I decided to go to the bathroom for a shower. As I was walking past their tent/home one of the little girls who lived there came riding by on her bicycle, and get this, she was singing "Santa Clause is Coming to Town". She was as happy a little girl as you could imagine. She lived in a tent and yet didn't have a care in the world. That little encounter happened many years ago, but the memory and lesson of it are still crystal clear for me today. In a material centric society like ours, where we spend so much of our life energy accumulating stuff, we would do well to heed this little girl's view on life. The roof over her head was a blue tarp. She did not have running water. She did not have AC. She did not have a bed. She did not have her own room. She had every reason to gripe and complain about her plight in life. Yet she rode around on a rickety, old bike, singing joyfully at the top of her lungs "Santa Clause is Coming to Town."
Being a Sunday night, the campground was pretty sparse, so Bob and I had our pick of sites.
With our beer happily chilling away, we set about cooking dinner. The menu for the night called for chicken jambalaya, cornbread and beer. There's a country song in there somewhere. As I cooked dinner, Bob busied himself setting up the table with a flair that would rival a 5 star restaurant.
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