COLTON

Marty is an only child. I find this very curious. I am constantly asking him about what it was like not having siblings. I once asked him what it was like when he went camping with his mom and dad and not brothers or sisters. I couldn't imagine a long road trip with no sisters crowding my half of the backseat. I couldn't fathom putting up a tent, unrolling foamies and crating gear from the van to the tent without the help of my sisters. I especially couldnt' imagine hanging out in a campground without "built in" playmates. Marty, a man of few words, summed up his experience by sharing this with me: "you know that kid that shows up at your family campfire and doesn't leave until your mom says, 'son, i think you better go back to your own campsite now'? Well, that was me, I was that kid!" My heart felt kind of heavy after hearing that story, but Marty doesn't think it's sad or weird, it's just how it was. He was good at making new friends and meeting people.
Marty and I spent the weekend camping at Waterton National Park with some friends of ours. We brought Scout (our only child) and slept in a tent at the foot of the beautiful Canadian Rockies! Saturday night, after a long day of hiking, we were all gathered around the wood burning stove in the little hut in the campground, enjoying some beverages when, a small, strange face appeared out of no-where. The face spoke, saying "hey guys, mind if I warm up by your fire?" Before we could answer, he wiggled his way into one of the empty lawn chairs. He settled in, announcing that his name was Colton and that we should all be ware of the cougar that lives in the mountains. The cougar, he informed us, comes out at midnight and if he bites you on the neck, your dead!!! He talked non-stop, sharing with us that he was here with his Dad, he had 4 siblings, none of them were with him. He wasn't wearing shoes, he explained without taking any breaths, as his were wet since he had slipped on a rock while trying to retrieve his rogue soccer ball from the river. He left his lawn chair at one point, to check for the cougar, but came back asking, very politely, if he could "please have a drink." This young man, kind of had us all speechless. He had just walked into a group of strange adults and took over the conversation! I kept wondering if this was what Marty was like as a kid....Eventually he left, chasing after the cougar, he swore he could hear, but, he was back in the morning. This time we were all sitting at the picnic table enjoying a Father's Day breakfast of fruit salad, pancakes, and waffles. We had blueberry jam, Maple Syrup and Orange Juice. Colton showed up, commenting on how great our breakfast smelled. He kept "hinting" at how much he loved pnacakes and how he was sooo hungry. We suggested he wake up his dad, give him a Father's Day hug and help him make breakfast. He informed us, while wedging his butt onto the bench of the picnic table between 2 of us, that his Dad did not like to be woken up. He was smacking his lips and basically drooling. He really, really wanted some breakfast, and we could have shared with him, but that would not be teaching him a good lesson. As a teacher, I worried about allergies and, well, being sued or something. I explained to Colton, that we would love to share with him, but we were scared about allergies and really, he shouldn't be taking food from strangers anyway. Colton seemed to accept my explanation. He excused himself and that was the last we saw of him. I wonder if Marty was like Colton....
I posted a couple of pics of our camping trip, just for fun!