Family Views – by Michelle Hensman
At quarter past one in the morning my boys woke up shocked and dismayed to find my husband and me aiming our flashlights on two of the many spiders on the wall above our bed. The smallest—a wolf spider—was in a dead lock stare with a GIANT spider—species undetermined—the likes I’d never seen before who apparently maintained a residence behind the 1970’s wood paneling headboard of our cabin. “It’s like Wild freaking Kingdom up in here boys, check this out!” Virtually a direct quote from my Irish husband; his expletives tend to be much more intense and easily forgiven because he grew up in Dublin, which seems a bit unfair to me but that’s another column.
We signed up to participate in an exclusive weekend family camp six months prior. We were told how great it was that we got a cabin on our first attempt since there was typically a significantly long waiting list every year. Originally excited and eager to be a part of such an amazing opportunity I now felt a fight-or-flight sensation kick-in. Were we really in serious danger… no… did my family view this threat as serious and immanent…OH YEAH! And considering the camp was exclusive, with a long waiting list, FREE and over four hours away from home, we were in a quandary.
Ethically speaking it felt like our duty to try everything and anything feasible that we could to rectify the spider dilemma. We analyzed our situation from all angles and decided the only logical, immediate solution was to remove the threat. My brave and valiant husband doffed a mighty flip flop and attempted to kill all the spiders in the room; however, the biggest and baddest spider, the one that resided only inches above our heads remained elusive. “What should we do now?”He asked with a tone of defeat. Of course I look at him with contempt and reply, “I know what I want to do and clearly I know what you want to do; someone just needs to have the guts to say it!” Again, not an exact quote but it’s a family column and close enough. Out of the mouth of my youngest babe came the noble honest words that my husband and I longed to say ourselves, “I want to go home…RIGHT NOW!”
Unified and energized we leaped into action and came together like nobody’s business: the six year old began throwing shoes and toys into an empty bag, regardless of what it was originally meant to contain. Our thirteen-year-old stripped the beds and gathered up the toiletries while my husband launched everything setting in front of him into the SUV… that was already running! Before I knew it and even realized my shoes were actually on my feet double knotted, we were on I-5 heading south towards Jacksonville!
It gets better…In order to reserve a spot at this exclusive family camp we had to come up with a family name, one that typified us as a whole. Although I consider myself a connoisseur of words, analogies and synonyms I had nothing for the Hensman’s. After much deliberation we settled on “No Limits” citing we consistently remind our boys that the only thing stopping them from achieving what they want in life are the limits they place on themselves; otherwise there are NO LIMITS! We laughed all the way home about the “NO LIMITS” family who packed up quietly in the wee morning hours and was gone without a trace…clearly their limitation was spiders!
Posted September 15, 2013
Michelle Hensman lives in Jacksonville and writes a blog about parenting called Family Views.
This is so funny! It reminded me of the time I took my Girl Scout troop to the local council for a sleep over in the cabins on the scout grounds. My girls were not at all receptive to No running water, No clean cabins, and the fact that the beds were hard and it just happen to be cool that particular evening. Granted there were other troops there on the same night, however, they both had running water and lights. That night I realized my girls should have grown up in Beverly Hills ,CA. That is how they were acting and there was nothing I could say or do that would change their minds. They were ready to go back to my house( their idea of “roughing it”). Oh, had I mentioned we all, three troops were locked inside the camp grounds until morning! We survived and still talk about that evening till this day and the girls are 25 and 26 today. We laugh about it now, but back then it was not so funny!! Your story reminded me of how quick “mutiny” is on our minds when the unexpected happens. Fun, fun article. Thanks!