packing list

Next week, we are going on our family vacation.  Last summer, we spent the week on Fire Island.  As each member of the family has gotten bigger, and our one-room house has stayed the same size, we thought a week in one room might be a bit much for us.  So this year, instead, we are going camping for four days.  I love camping.  So.  Much.

I am generally terrible at packing.  I can't remember the last time that I went on a trip where I didn't show up missing something essential.  When we went to Europe in July, I did not bring a single sock with me.  I've forgotten my toothbrush at least 100 times and have gone on trips with no underwear.  I don't know why, I just can't seem to keep it all in my head.  Making a list does not help, especially since, for some reason, I make the list then ignore it.

The exception to this rule is that I am a hyper-organized camping packer.  We already have a staging area set up in the basement, and the non-perishable food items are organized into bags that have the day we are supposed to eat them written on the side.  We have three separate lists going (food, gear, and clothes).  I'm not sure where this mentality comes from.  Maybe it's from miserable rain-soaked weeks at the Michigan Womyn's Music Festival where I wished I had brought just one more emergency poncho.  Maybe it's because, even though I know we are going to a state park under 2 hours away, I feel like we are going to be in the "wilderness" and unable to buy anything we forget.  But I am in organization overdrive.

None of this changes the fact that last time we went camping, we forgot matches.