Do You Like Me?
Over the summer we camped for several days with my parents in what my sons refers to as “their house in the middle of the woods.”
I knick-named it “The Taj” because the granite counter tops, in their larger-than-life kitchen area, certainly beat out my 1960’s pale beige Formica.
The drawback to even their pimped out house on wheels is that the bathroom is very small. Either that or my ass is too wide?
It was much easier to shower in the bath house at the campground. So after spending a day on the lake Ethan and I headed that direction carrying our essentials.
There were other mothers and children with the same idea, so we waited in line long enough to listen to some of the most interesting conversations between naked people I’ve ever heard. A few times I had to cover Ethan’s ears.
I’ve always found it intriguing that individuals will talk loudly about personal things when they blatantly know others are listening. Maybe that is the exact reason they do it?
Once inside our 2X2 stall I instructed Ethan to keep his flip flops on while we showered and not to step on the floor barefoot. He of course questioned this and I counteracted with my stern “because I said so” look.
Surveying the floor of backed up water and floating hair (from other people) was almost enough for me to pack it up and just make a few more swipes of deodorant under the arms calling it good.
I’m not sure if it was Ethan almost dropping my clothes on the floor or when he actually dropped my clean towel in this icky water that I lost it. Either way he knew I wasn’t happy. Trying to do the tango with a 5 year old while keeping your feet on top of sandals and dressing isn’t easy.
But knowing your towel now has the particles of the people I overhead in the shower stall before us talking about how many people they’d “gnawed on” at their swinger campsite last night put me over the top.
Ethan’s only defense was to look at me and ask, “Do you like me?”
He’s gotten pretty good at reading those non-verbal expressions.
LOL do you like me? Poor thing….but um, ew and ick on the nasty shower thing
nasty all around.
bleh. yech.
one day, he’ll understand.
why do people love to talk about the details of last night’s romp? i’ve never done such a thing. a friend of mine loves to dish, “i’m so sore…” blah…and i’m like (hands over ears) lalalalallalalalalala.
swinger campsites? i definitely need to get out more.
These must be the same folks who bellow their personal business on cell phones while ordering their skinny, decaf, 3 splenda, light foam lattes at Starbucks. Do they think we care?
I popped over here because I thought your Bossy comment was so funny. Thanks for the laugh!
Love the question, ya gotta love a five-year-old’s cuteness when combined with perfected situation comprehension skills. Double ick on the water though. Now I remember why I showered late at night/early AM when the places were usually deserted:)
Oh my gosh, I’m so with you..I wanted to throw up reading your story. I have a hard time sharing that stuff with my husband, not alone mouthy strangers.
I’m so glad I’m not the only one…
Dorothy from grammology
Eeeeewwwww. Sounds even worse than going to the Y. You are a brave soul.
Yup, that confirms it. I will never, ever camp. I have a hard time peeing in a public restroom much less showering in public with backed up drains and floating hairs and color commentary and my five year old.
Eeeewwwwww…. I’m just squirming…..
Of course, my idea of roughing it is not having box springs so I’m with cce - I will never ever go camping.
Once in college my husband, I & some friends camped along this creek where we were canoing. It was quite interesting….there were some med students (males) that partied up the place and got into a huge shouting match one night. Then there was the hillbilly wedding taking place that weekend. Ah yes, and then I went to the women’s shower house to find a guy & girl doing the nasty in the shower stall that had a see-thru curtain. Lovely uh?
SICK shower! Cute boy… love the ‘do you like me?’… awww.
Swingers? Camping? Oh, no no no. That is just wrong.
Just plain gross. Unwanted visuals. One cute kid!
I must confess that we skip showering when camping, if it’s only for one night or two. Those campground showers are just…skeevy.
Ha I have the same problems.
My husband, on the other hand, doesn’t care for that at all.
Needless to say, we fight even in campground.
Ewwww. We did this this summer too. My son was THRILLED because he didn’t shower for THREE days. If you thought the women’s showers were bad, the men’s are even worse at campgrounds. How could I fight to make him go into something that gross? He hates showering even at home. So, he was happy and wants to camp again. Me? Not so much.
gnawed on? Ew…
Yep, that’s way too close to home lol. I’m totally into having my kids with thier flip flops on, even at swimming, though, pretty clean, i’m just being overly cautious. Strange thing though, is that, no matter how try to keep the coodies away they always get sick - go figure. Maybe I should just let the bread crumb linger longer that the 4 sec rule