I mentioned in my previous post that Cole and 4 others had come home from scout camp last night. And after they left, two more came home, dry heaving all the way. I just got a call from one of the leaders, and our conversation went something like this:

Mr. Scout: Hi, this is Bob, and I just brought two more kids home from scout camp.

Me: Oh, my word! Is there anyone left up there?!

Mr. Scout: Well, we’ve got three boys up there right now, and the Scout Master.

Me: So, do you think it’s the flu or food poisoning? (I’m sure hoping it’s food poisoning!!)

Mr. Scout: Well, what we think happened was, one of the boys’ families had this last week (I won’t say which family it was, to protect the guilty). It went through the whole family, and then “this other kid”, who had gone over there to play, also got it, and was sick the day before camp. He got better, and his parents brought him up a day late to camp.

Me: Oh, no. So we could all be getting it.

Mr. Scout: And we’re just checking on the boys to see how they are doing. I’ve got to go back up there, since Mr. Scoutmaster isn’t supposed to be up there alone.

Me: I’m so sorry. Good luck. Oh, and is Cole’s gear still up there?

Mr. Scout: Yes, we brought them all home without their gear, so I’m not sure how we’re going to be getting that all home. (If I were him, I would have been crying by now. Screaming out something like “Don’t make me go back there!”)

From the parents who I’ve talked to, all of their boys had it way worse than Cole did. Cole was sick a couple of times, not all night or every 15 minutes like some of his friends.

But, in order to keep those germs confined to Cole, I’ve just banished him to his room. “I know you are feeling better, son, but in order to preserve the rest of my family (and myself!) I’m going to have to send you to your room for a while. Step away from the computer while I clorox the whole thing, and have fun reading in your room. Or take a nap. I’ll send you up some food later.” I’ll just keep these Clorox wipes handy just in case I need to redisinfect anything.

(It’s a good thing my paranoid sister does not read this blog, or I and my family would be banned forever. And she would never send any of her children to scout camp. Ever.)

My other camper, Megan, came home a little while ago. She’s bright eyed and bushy tailed and trying to tell me all about camp. When I showed her her newly cleaned and organized room, she said, “Cool!” Wow! Quite different from Cole when he comes home from a camp-out. She must have slept some. Being the nice mom that I am, I told her I would love to hear all about it…..after she had a shower.