Tonight, the eve before Groundhog day, the weatherman is warning us of frigid arctic air flowing into Minnesota. Finally we are getting the necessary ingredients for an honorable Minnesota winter. The moon is full and from my the window I can see an eerie shadow flowing across the snow. It is a smoke shadow and it tells me that the oak I am burning in the wood burning stove is creating BTUs that allow me to live in comfort.
No thermometer is needed when I step outside to look to the east towards the distant canvas tent. It’s cold, the snow squeaks and that is enough to hurry me back indoors. I wonder if my wife Nancy and fellow young camper Zoie are sleeping yet. They are camping tonight, maybe 250 paces from the house. I made an earlier trip out to see them and to deliver a thick buffalo robe to add to their multiple layers of sleeping covers.
I joined them for a cup of cider and a piece of cornbread. Zoie was the fire tender. Every five to ten minutes she opened the door to the titanium wood burning stove inside the canvas tent and fed the coals more firewood. By winter camping standards it was a cozy shelter.
Though Nancy and I have an annual tradition of heading into the BWCA for a week of winter camping and lake trout fishing, tonight’s outing is clearly a “girls night out” affair. I am pleased for this is the kind of night that one forges unforgetable memories. Zoie is too young to be a teenager and too old to be a little girl. She is confident, smart and smiles easily. Nancy is creating one of those emotional bookmarks for Zoie that she will be relating for years to come. Guaranteed.
With a little imagination and sense of adventure, it is easy to create strong memories for kids. And the best part is that these memories are right outside your door and they are inexpensive requiring a sense of adventure and a little imagination. These memories are the fodder that could very well move them towards their own calling.
David Orr author of Earth in Mind, argues that our educational system promotes ever climbing up the socio-economic ladder. He writes, “The first and overriding danger is that it will encourage young people to find careers before they find a decent calling. A career is a job, a way to earn one’s keep, a way to build a long resume, a ticket to somewhere else. For upwardly mobile professionals, a career is too often a way to support a “lifestyle” by which one takes more than one gives back. In contrast, a calling has to do with one’s larger purpose, personhood, deepest values, and the gift one wishes to give the world. A calling about the use one makes of a career. A calling comes from an inner conversation. A career can always be found in a calling, but a calling cannot easily be found in a career.”
In the glow of two burning candles, we spoke of the Yukon, the gold rush at the brink of the twentieth century and eventually we found the literature of famous poet, Robert Service and The Cremation of Sam McGee. I just happened to have a copy stuffed in my jacket. I can recite the first half fairly well, but will have to add the second half to my memory bank. “There are strange things done in the midnight sun . . .”
That was nearly three hours ago. I had my venison chili warmed up in the microwave and they had theirs warmed over the wood burning stove. Hmmm which would be more memorable? I just checked the thermometer and the temp is dropping. I need to go down and throw a couple thick chunks of oak in the stove for the night’s heat. I wonder if I should have left Taiga, our aged 120 pound sled dog with the campers? His thick coat and body mass would certainly add a furnace for the two slight ladies. But instead, he is curled on the rug dreaming of younger years.
And out in the quiet tent, I suspect layers of confidence, laughs and shared stories are tucked in for the night. All is well. All is very well.
“The arctic trails have their secret tales . . .”
p.s. Huge thanks to Blake, Maddog, Durtsche, an awesome son-in-law and the guy who understands things like blogs and domains.