17 August 2009 06:22
last night i did something i’ve never done before. under my free spirited gf’s indirect yet unmistakable influence i went out into the back yard and slept under the stars. just took a sleeping bag, waltzed out into the wilderness that is my back yard, plopped down, zipped up as far as i could go...and waited for the skeeters to find me.i made a number of observations:
1) it’s hard to stargaze if you’re too tired to keep your eyes open
2) a winter rated sleeping bag is not ideal for a warm summer night if trying to keep mosquitoes out.
3) i was amused to note that i was more concerned about ground based wildlife finding me than mosquitoes. might have something to do with my close proximity to the woodpile which i know for a fact contains some of the uglier specimens that God saw fit to call good.
i lasted about 5mins before unzipping the bag a good ways, and wound up doing more doing a good bit more stargazing than i expected after the initial two mins of heavy-liddedness. seems the “ooh this is nice” factor wore off on the sleeping bag’s plushness.
to camp verb the process by which a perfectly flat piece of ground loses its flatness over the course of a night’s occupancy, where rocks and twigs (formerly in a submerged state) make their way to the surface and protrude sharply.i spent a good deal more time contemplating the vastness and majesty of God’s universe than I’d planned, which yielded some good prayer time but failed to yield any rest time. at some point after midnight i relocated to another portion of the lawn...while the grass wasn’t any greener in the new location (we need rain) it was certainly less populated with protrusions. next time* i’ll make sure to pick my sleeping location in the daylight beforehand.
*we’ll see about a “next time”. i need to let time erase some of the memories of waking up repeatedly to random dogs, other people’s air conditioner units, trains, and a continuous string of crickets.
as the night wore on only a grim determination to spend a “night sleeping under the stars” kept me from crawling into my bed (a mere 50’ away). the romance of sleeping without a roof took a hit, the hours i spent reading westerns never failed to glorify sleeping with a saddle for a pillow and a horse grazing nearby—makes me wonder how many of those western authors actually slept outside.
but the vast bowl of stars...the cool breeze (once i unzipped the bag)...the dew...the quiet peace...there are good reasons to forsake a comfortable mattress and air conditioning.
it was a terrible night as far as sleep accumulation went, but all the same (from my current vantage point) t’was worth it. it really was a crying shame that i made it this far in life without doing it before. next time i think i’ll cheat and take an extra blanket for padding though, after all the cowboys always had a bedroll...
(ps, the first mosquito showed in 2 minutes. but for the most part i was left well enough alone, dry weather has its advantages.)
06:22 email me permalink / commentary (1)
ah, now...a few more nights and all those noises will put you right to sleep. :) hammocks are an amazing invention, btw. :) 19 August, 2009 18:42 – 
Rebekah
