Earning a little good will

So several months ago, my mother-in-law asked me to go to this family reunion/retreat sort of thing. It’s all women – her large group of female cousins and their daughters or daughters-in-law. It sounded like a great opportunity to meet some of Mark’s extended relatives. And, let’s face it, it's a weekend away, which is kind of a nice change of pace (though I will admit I sobbed like a baby this morning as I walked out the house knowing I would not see my girls for well over 48 hours).

Anyway, I leave for the retreat straight from work tonight. It’s at a camp owned by one of the daughters. It’s a five-and-a-half hour drive from where I live, but my sister-in-law (who I absolutely adore) is riding with me, so I’m sure the time will pass quickly.

So what’s the catch? Why is this blog worthy? Well, we learned THREE DAYS AGO that the camp has NO ELECTRICITY and NO HEAT. OK, technically it has lights and stuff, but everything is run on a generator so you have to (as the e-mail to us all so eloquently put it) “conserve, conserve, conserve.” This means “no hairdryers” and then this: “we will all know if you dried your hair.” G.U.L.P.

The e-mail also states, “Our biggest power pull is the well. Any running of water drains the generator batteries rapidly. Remember, if we loose our generator power, we will have no light, no water, no toilets!” Well, this is sounding more and more fun all the time!

Let me tell you, I’m not really a “roughing it” kind of girl. I thought I was roughing it when Mark was redoing one of bathrooms and we only had one toilet for several weeks. I like my hair dryer. And my curling iron. And I like to be warm. I like a hot shower and a well lit room. I don’t like having to sleep in 18 layers of clothes (have I mentioned that the weather up there calls for 50-degrees during the day and into the 30s at night)? Oh and rain. Let's not forget the rain, because being cold is bad enough, but damp cold is even worse.

This morning I lingered under the hot water of my shower and washed my hair three times. I’m actually considering not showering all weekend, which I find muy gross, but honestly I’d rather be stinky than freeze my ass off in a cold shower, then step out into a frigid room and walk around shivering for two hours waiting for my hair to dry just so it can look like shit anyway.

I’m sure that in the end, it will be a nice weekend. I’ll meet lots of fun women, eat great food (and drink lots of wine) and undoubtedly laugh a lot, but I’m thinking I am owed some major daughter-in-law karma points for this. That and maybe another night of babysitting.