LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR CAMPING VERSION

When you camp, you never know who will end up being your neighbor.  So far, in all our camping over the years, we have always met very nice people at the campground.

Yesterday was no exception to that.

The past few days, we have been camping with another family.  When we camp with them, we decide to "hover" a bit less when our boys want to explore the campground by hiking or biking because this family has boys the same age as ours.  And one of their boys has Down syndrome so what better leader could there be? :) 

So yesterday the gang took off to bike around the campground.  

Ben came back early to give us reports on what the other bikers were up to.  His first report was that Jonah was lost, however, when I got up to look, Jonah was biking right past our campsite.  Second, Ben reported Jonah was bleeding which again turned out to be a false report.  Ben's third attempt to create drama and prevent me from sitting down and relaxing was that Jonah hit a car.  However, when I got up to check, Jonah was pedaling his bike towards me looking perfectly fine.  

When Jonah returned to the campsite a few minutes later, he came up to me breathing heavy and wanted to tell me something.  Jonah tends to be dramatic so I told him he had to wait until I finished the conversation with my fellow camping mom.  

He asked me to follow him, and he was saying something that sounded like "I hit a post".  When we walked out onto the road I did see a small post along side the road.  I asked him if he hit that.  He shook his head emphatically and said, "I hit a bush".  My response was, "You hit a bush?"  

At this point a woman across the road was smiling and said, "He actually did.  My husband had to pull him out the bush by our campsite."  

I looked towards where she was motioning and finally figured out what happened.  When Ben reported Jonah hit a car, he was probably trying to say that Jonah almost hit this couple's parked car.  To avoid it, he rode his bike into the bush. When I went to check on him after Ben's report (which lacked a few crucial details), Jonah had already been rescued and was his way back to tell me of his bush adventure. 

I told the woman to thank her husband for his rescue.  It's probably a sight they don't see often- boy on a bike caught in a bush- but with our boys, anything is possible, right?

So what is the moral of this story?  As the Bible says, "Love your neighbor as yourself".  The camping version of that is if you see someone stuck in a bush in your campsite, pull him out!  His parents will greatly appreciate it!