Girl time is important to me. Yesterday it was coffee with a few of my home girls…the ‘71 Divas Do Coffee. We figure Starbucks is cheaper than therapy. I popped into the Women’s Center at 7:00am to get the tatas smushed (Save the Tatas, ladies. Get your mammograms!) then ran over to the hotel to wait for my tribe. They never disappoint. Once we were properly caffeinated and had solved the world’s problems, we went our separate ways till next month.

You can’t keep a good gal down for long! I still felt a little rough yesterday morning but once I had a couple cups of good, strong coffee and a bowl of oats in me, I was pretty much good to go. Mr. FixIt mowed the lawn for me here at the farm and wouldn’t let me help. I felt pretty guilty being lazy while he was out working. By the time he was done, and I had rested, I was feeling bored so we went for a ride.

The first two of our three day getaway was perfect. The weather was moderate. We hiked, fished, lazed around, read, cooked, and sat out long after dark watching the boats go up and down the river. We had to go into town Wednesday to salvage some doors, windows, and light fixtures out of a structure that’s being torn down today. It was hot, dirty work and by 2:00, we were done. We ran some errands then headed to a restaurant for lunch. We’ve eaten salads there before but I was hungry so I ordered a chicken salad wrap and fries. We left to head back up to the river to the campground and within 10 minutes, I was sick as a dog. The thing that scared me was my heart was doing weird things and I felt faint. Mr. FixIt took me to the hospital. They kept me overnight for observation and did a ton of tests. They finally decided they thought I had food poisoning. I got home from the hospital yesterday and unhooked the camper and went to bed.

Last weekend was four days of fun (and hard work) hostessing the Sisters on the Fly. This weekend was four days of meet and greet at Country Living Fair with the Girl Campers. When I came back to town late yesterday afternoon, really…the only thing I wanted to do was go home, take a hot bath, and go to bed. Instead, I went to the 7:00 service at my church. I missed last week. I couldn’t miss again.

One of the coolest things about any group of camping women…be it Girl Campers or Sisters on the Fly or any of the others…you are just about guaranteed to have a great time, make new friends, and do fun stuff. This weekend has been no exception. The Country Living Fair was full of eye candy, to be sure. But sitting around with your Sister friends, laughing, talking, eating, and sharing a slice of life is priceless.

For those of you who’ve been following me for awhile, you remember what a struggle it was to downsize when I sold my house. Getting rid of 95% of my personal belongings just a year after losing Mr. Virgo was very stressful. I have been so careful not to accumulate “stuff” again. But, I’ve got to tell ya…this Country Living Fair is exceptional. I think this is my third in a row and it seems each one gets better. I will have to say, there were a lot more people here on opening day than the last two years. If that’s any indication of the overall attendance, we’re in for a whale of an event!

I arrived at the Country Living Fair in the early afternoon yesterday and met my Girl Camper friends. We had to wait our turn to pull the three campers into the grounds so we sat around and nibbled on finger foods and caught up with what’s been going on in each other’s lives. Girl Camper extraordinaire, Janine Pettit, regaled us with stories of her epic month long trip to the National Parks out west this summer. Gail shared that her daughter is going to live overseas for a year. Jill was excited about her new-to-her Airstream she recently redecorated. I shared the article from the Fidelity online magazine. Sisters and Girl Campers always pick up where we left off the last time.

It’s hard to believe exactly four-and-a-half years ago, I was preparing a funeral for a man I never dreamed of losing. Mr. Virgo was gone in a heartbeat, literally, and I was left to make some sense and order out of the chaos left behind. Looking back on it with today’s vision, I can see so many things I would have done differently. I don’t think I made huge mistakes, but I think if I would have known then what I know now, there are definitely things I would have done differently.

I’m still glowing over the events of the past weekend. When I was planning this gathering for the Sisters on the Fly, I had everything pictured in my head and it came out just like I had hoped. But the months leading up to the event had points where it was pretty nerve wracking. The two big items on my list turned out to be the two most difficult to fill. A caterer and entertainment for Saturday night.

We had such a mish-mash of gals at the SOTF event this weekend. I’ve heard so much about Jean Taylor over the years that I felt I already knew her, even though we’d never met. She came with three of her umpteen cousins and they were an absolute hoot and a half. They love to “camp”. As a matter of fact, Jean owns a campground in New Jersey. I am not sure how “campy” the others get, seeing how the sum of their experience thus far seemed to be staying in the motor home at the campground. But I loved them. You know why? Because they didn’t know you could make ice cream by hand. They’d never seen the Milky Way. They hadn’t heard of clogging in any other sense than what cholesterol does to your arteries. They were delightful!