I did NOT freak out this year when it was time to send Ethan-11yr to camp.

Last year I was so freaked out about sending Ethan-11yr to camp I practically had an all-family,  laying on of hands, hour long prayer sendoff. I mean NO ONE could have mistaken that he was going to camp last year.

But yesterday, I just sent him to camp, sans mommy freakout.  And guess what? That WORKED. Mainly it worked because Caden-7yr freaked out FOR me. (And boy, did he do it well, gotta give credit where credit is due.)

Yesterday the moms and the dads stood around in the parking lot…. waiting. This is what we do. For reasons I do not fully understand. We arrive to drop off children and bags at the church parking lot at 10:30 but then we stand until after 11:30 when we all have a meeting, pray, then wave goodbye to the bus as it leaves, and then we can leave. It was the same last year. I’m tempted to show up late, but I just didn’t have it in me.

Mom and I spent that hour standing and talking and while sweat ran down our backs, and I pointed out all the cute little kids and she told me about Posh having a baby girl and what she named her and it was something really weird, but i don’t remember and I’ve never been a Posh fan anyway. Neither is my mom.

Someone called me by the wrong name, but it’s the same wrong name everyone at that church calls me. Her name also starts with a K, and we look nothing alike, but for some reason people confuse us a lot. I’ve pointed out the other person to my mom, who says ‘you’re the same height’ or ‘obviously, it’s the eyelids.’ Both of which crack me up, because she’s at least partly serious.

Before dropping off Ethan-11yr (and by ‘dropping off’ I really mean, ‘standing around and wishing it were more of a true drop off instead of a lingering involuntary social event’) we had dropped off the two little guys at a VBS. And by ‘dropped off’, I mean, DROPPED OFF, praise God.

So when I went BACK to VBS to get the two little guys after the Lingering Bus Farewell Party, Caden-7yr noticed I did not have Ethan-11yr. Observant little guy.

He asked if he was with Dad.

“Um… no. Remember all that camp stuff we put in the car? He’s on his way to camp.”

“WHAT? I THOUGHT HE’D GO WITH DAD FOR A LITTLE BIT AND THEN WE COULD HUG, WE DID NOT HUG, CAN I CALL HIM, WHAT DO YOU MEAN HE’S ALREADY GONE I DID NOT SAY GOODBYYYYYYYYE!”

Melt. Down.

Not often are meltdowns adorable. Actually, almost never. But this one was SO sweet and even though it was a public freakout of loud proportions, it was somehow also endearing and perfectly excusable.

I SHOULD have remembered to orchestrate a goodbye ceremony with all the boys and I forgot. Things were hectic that morning because Ethan-11yr had gotten up in the middle of the night and was too excited about camp to go back to sleep so he woke up Caden-7yr and they stayed up and partied until Mike heard them and put them back to bed and then no one wanted to get up the next morning (which never happens) and then Maria got there and they were still in their underwear which always freaks them out (as if Maria hasn’t seen her own boys in underwear and might be shocked or something) and we were running behind. It was just crazy.

We were walking into a store when Caden-7yr had his meltdown. I pulled him over to a wall, out of the way, and tried to talk him down. Seth-5yr looked on with big, concerned eyes and reached out to pat his shoulder every few sobs or so.

We got back in the car a few minutes later and all was calm for about 30 seconds. Then Caden-7yr saw Ethan-11yr’s goggles in the backseat and lost it again. “ETHAN-11YR FORGOT HIS GOGGLES!!! WHAT IS HE GOING TO DO?! HE ISN’T USED TO OPENING HIS EYES IN SALT WATER! CAN WE TAKE THEM TO HIM? PLEEEEEASE? AND THEN I COULD HUG HIM, TOO.”

“It’s not salt water. He’ll be fine. And, NO.”

Two boys instead of three this week, but with the drama and insanity of five boys.

There’s just something not right about that.

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