Last Minute Camping.
My flight is in five hours and once again I’m doing that thing - going through the photos from our last holiday, neglecting my packing duties.
We went on an impromptu camping trip two weekends ago
Not sure if you remember - we went camping during Easter break, a trip which became an X-Files episode of ‘did Parks Victoria double booked our campsite, or a bogan family just photoshopped a camp permit and chased us out’ mystery.
Either way, this was our revenge camp. A white marker pen to erase that painful memory and wash that funny taste of our mouths.
And this time, our campsite was there, waiting for us.
When Hana was a pea, before she came ‘online’, I had a weird theory.
That her body was simply a vessel, and every two hours, between naps, she was occupied by different souls.
A game of musical chair for the spirits of the earth, ready for reincarnation.
She cried, she pooed, she vomited, she laughed.
It was unpredictable because it was a different person each time.
And then on day 28, she finally locked eyes with us, and smiled, declaring:
This is me. I think I’m gonna stay.
Crazy, right?
In reality, my daughter dies every day.
Kids like to use age to measure their self-worth.
But, if we measure in days, it’s obvious, right?
She’s only 365 days old once, 843 days old once, 1300 days old … suddenly, we’re at day 2,229. And every morning, she wakes up as a different person.
The change is gradual, but we are, essential, not the same person.
Since we’re only staying for one night, we just needed to worry about two meals. For three people, that’s like six servings of food, right?
We brought leftover rice and shredded chicken(I think a roast chicken from supermarket would’ve been perfect), frozen dumplings, eggs and a block of udon noodles. Leftover bolognese.
After setting up camp, we had lunch at the local pub 15 minutes away.
For dinner, we boiled water with the rice, added chicken to make congee. Breakfast the next morning, boiled water again with dumplings, eggs, and udon noodles. Cup is bowl; fork is spoon.
Oh yea, and marshmallows and snacks in between. Hana showed me how to bake banana stuffed with chocolate chips in aluminium foil.
The fireplace was our living room.
I always have this nightmare before I go on a trip away from family.
That when I return, everything is not the same.
With the time difference, I’ll be alone in a hotel room most mornings, looking through our photos.
The last time I left my family for a shoot was October 2019.
I’m not afraid of how the girls would cope; I’m nervous if I could.
It’s not even a week, right? How much can we change?
After we said goodbye to the campsite, Hana said, “look! A love heart on the window.”
It took me a while to see the shadow of the leaf reflected on the windscreen, but a second to finish the last frame of the film camera to document that moment.
Hopefully when I’m back, Hana ver. 2240 will still be as observant and kind.
I was supposed to end this post by asking for recommendation in Singapore, but I procrastinated on my procrastination.
Don’t worry, somehow, I found a fixer - a friend of a friend who would bring me around.
Now that the emtional right brain stuff is out of the way, I’ll see you next at Kiasu-land.