Memories: A river runs through it

Upper Michigan, Summer 1988

So our first day in the drizzling rain was quite fun for the kids. Even getting wet through and through was fun for them. They got new sweat pants and jackets. Each child also got a new raincoat. Soon they were playing in the rain in their raincoats. I held tight to my baby Seth, who did not walk yet.

That night we settled in our little tents with our young children; Tom, baby, me and older kids on each side of us. I listened to the gentle pattering of the rain against our tent. I’ve always loved the sound of rain as I fall into deep sleep. When I woke up refreshed, I saw that Tom had hardly slept at all. Our tent lets water in when anything touches its sides, so Tom spent a restless night guarding against this. He also was very busy pulling the children to the center so their sleeping bags would not get wet.

Paul and Mary’s tent had other challenges. A steady stream of water was actually flowing through it.  They started out sleeping on an inflated mattress with the two little boys in sleeping bags next to them. When Paul realized they had a river going through their tent, he picked up the boys, and the whole family slept on one little inflated mattress.

Whatever Paul and Tom did to our tents, we never experienced that again, even though it rained regularly.