The Campfire

Before there can be a campfire there has to be a camping trip. Such expeditions all start with an organizer (leader? instigator?) who declares that it is time to head for the hills, beach, forest, desert, mountains. A nerve is struck, date and place agreed upon, and a stake is driven into the sand.  We go!!! 

I think the best trips start with a late night or pre-dawn meet-up where a caravan forms. As someone said, "Any real adventure begins and ends at dark". You never know until then who is really coming.  Anyone can say: "I'm in", but until Saturday at 5AM in the Costco parking lot, you never know who will pack up their gear and show up.  Every trip is unique, and the magic is in the final mix of old-timers, young bucks, and newcomers.

The best campfires come at the end of an epic day -- the sun too hot, the trail too steep, the wind too cold.  Enduring bonds us. Safe, well fed, and bone-weary, we gather around that amazing fire, smoking and crackling and hot. And then according to no rule or law of anything, stories are told. Some, for the hundredth time, with groans from the old-timers; laughter from the newbies. Forgotten details, embellishments, and sometimes even revelations bouncing back and forth through the sparks. Sometimes we laugh until our sides ache, yet other times it gets quiet and the only sound we hear is the fire and the pop and hiss of wet wood. As the night goes on we may shout, howl, dance, sing, argue, kiss, hug, cry, and laugh again.  

You, or one you love dearly, has Alzheimer's.  The Memory Kit is your way to lead an epic trip, to push your limits, to sit around the fire until the morning light, and tell the story of a lifetime.


  

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