“I need to bring what now?” As I looked through the list of what to bring to training camp, that is the thought that went through my mind, followed quickly by “yeah, I don’t have any of that.” A tent, a sleeping mat, a sleeping bag… I felt like I needed to go to REI and just say “yes, I will take one of everything.” I didn’t quite do that, but I did get the aforementioned 3 items. Soon after purchase, I thought I should at least attempt to set up my tent before going to training camp, so out I went to the backyard. As I tried making sense of all the poles and flaps and straps, I was pleased that I have in fact been camping once since kindergarten and therefore knew important tidbits like the poles go on the outside and that they will in fact bend without breaking. And then within minutes, I miraculously had my own little freestanding structure. With a successful first attempt, I was confident I would make it at training camp. The day finally came for training camp, and in true Carrie-form I got up at 4am for a rapid-packing session as I needed to be out the door by 430am. I threw everything together and as an experienced speed packer I went through my frequent forget items and was fairly certain nothing critical had been forgotten, so I thought… I arrived at camp and set up my tent like a pro and busted out my brand new sleeping mat and sleeping bag. I had a great first afternoon and evening, and then it became night. And as the darkness set in, a tricky thing happened: no street lights came on. Likely because I was in the middle of a forest, but yet somehow still unexpected. As I navigated the path back to my tent using the indiglo of my watch, I realized that a flashlight might not have been a bad thing to have along and that flashlights have to potential to do more than just take up space on the top of the fridge. Who knew? I slowly and carefully maneuvered around tree roots and stumps, trying not to fall into holes or trip over mounds, all the time wishing I just had a flashligt. So, I guess that can be lesson number one of this adventure: Light will shine through the darkness and show you the way.
