A Different Kind of Band Camp

As I type teen aged girls giggle under the moonlight zipped inside a tent. The fire is out but the momentum of the night carries on. All I see is camera flashes and shadows through the tent fabric. And, more giggles. The intent: for a team to bond. I believe-- successful.

Did you ever camp out in the back yard when you were a kid? We never camped in the yard but instead camped out on our deck, right under the stars. Our second story deck had no stairs so it was pretty safe. We were just a roll away from the sliding glass door leading back into the town house if the weather chased us in. We slept in sleeping bags on the hard lumber without a complaint or care to the, what I would now consider, less than comfortable surface. It was also the era of UFO sightings. We would lie there watching every twinkle of a star summing it up as an alien's space ship. We all probably had one dose to many of Land of the Lost. When we woke in the morning it was by the warmth of the summer morning sun heating the silky nylon fabrics of our sleeping bags. Oh to be a kid again.

Instead I enjoy watching the Color Guard girls pitch tents in my backyard. Not a single girl references the instruction sheets for tents construction...no, instead one they study the picture on the box, while the other tent was constructed merely by trail and error. Who needs directions, men don't so why should teen girls? Team building. That is what the magic ingredient was. Success was achieved. Tents erected.

A true campfire fare was offered: weenies roasted on the open fire, marshmallows for desert. A trio of chips as the side dish. Wash it all down with soda pop and iPod tunes...what more could you want on a cool July evening. Sleep? Never. Slumber parties, no matter what there nature are never about clocking the z's they are about how long and how much you can talk and solve "girl problems." What are girl problems when you're a teen? Boys? Fashion? Crazy teachers? What bachelor Jillian The Bachelorette will pick?

All I know is I will be inside slumbering on my Posture Pedic mattress. For me this is all right!