Missing the Boy

This past week, my 11 year old son Dylan has been away at Boy Scout camp. I'm glad that he went. This was his first year as an offical Boy Scout, after 4 years of being a Tiger Cub, Bear Cub, Wolf Cub and then a Webalo. His dad and I went down to pick him up and of course, we were late getting there. This was an interesting trip in itself, as the whole time, my ex-husband talked about my funeral and asked me if I had a living will. WTF? Give me a chance to have a hysterecomy buddy! I knew there was a reason why I've always referred to him as the "Grim Reaper".

As we pulled up to the camp, Dylan came running across the campground, arms waving and wearing a huge smile. He actually hugged me and let me kiss him in front of his friends. (He must have missed me.) He was dirty, he stunk and he had a 4 inch deep cut around his neck. The cut, as if turns out, camp from veering off a horse trail and getting stabbed/scraped by a tree branch. Some other horses behind his became spooked and thereby caused Dylan's horse to start running. Rather than pulling back on the reins, he turned to the left and went through some trees. The good part, (and of course I'm so proud of him) is that he didn't fall off one time! Woo-hoo! We stayed for the closing program and awards ceremony and then took our stinky boy home. His Scout leader, (who was also reeking of BO) told us that he did really well and had earned a few more awards/ranks, whatever they are. He also told us that Dylan had been homesick the first night and he talked things over with him and that seemed to calm him down. (Awww...poor Dylan.) But it didn't really help that two days later, Dylan burned his fingers while cooking over an open fire, or that it rained the whole time he was there. He did give a good imitation of Forrest Gump talking at the rain in Vietnam, on the way home.

So after bringing the stinky boy home, he took a shower, went to bed and then the next day, he and his dad went to the BMV and an state I.D. for him. I took them both to the airport this morning. Now he is in California with his daddy for a week.

I know he is having a good time, as he will get to spend time with his grandma and grandpa, who always send him home with money and an extra suitcase filled with new clothes and toys. And if that's not cool enough, he has an aunt and uncle that work at Disneyland, so every time he goes out there, he gets to for free. Now this year, in addition to the Disneyland perks, he has two cousins who work at Knotts Berry Farm and Thunder Mountain. What a cool week! And of course, dad and his uncle Lowell have promised to take him to the beach and teach him how to surfboard. And knowing his grandma like I do...I'm sure she is cooking/feeding him, whatever his heart desires. :) She's a good grandma!

I'm just really missing him because I've never been away from him this long. I know he's having fun and that's important to me, but I can't help but missing "the boy". I love you Dylan!