One word? When seven would do…

just post a great big 🙂

Well he’s home. I think we’ve covered my feelings about him being away fairly comprehensively and we probably don’t need to go over how I’m feeling to have him back really. 😉

Dad appeared just before we were going to fetch him, I suspect it was deliberate, so he came along to collect him with us. Official pick up time was 11am, we were there by about twenty to and were by no means the last. I saw Davies straight away, skulking near the entrance and heard someone say to him ‘Davies, Davies, your Mummy’s here’. He waved and smiled and then headed back off into the field. He told me afterwards that they’d all been told they had to stay on the camp and carry on with helping strike camp until they were officially discharged.

So we got to watch him being said goodbye to by about 20 different cadets and badgers. He was getting cuddled, high fived, picked up and tossed around and certainly seemed to be popular. There was a whistle blown and all of the campers assembled in a big circle around the flag in the centre of the field. There was no indication from anyone that we could follow them but a few parents started to, so the rest of us joined in. I got to touch him but he was still very much part of the campers and didn’t really talk to us much at that point. Scarlett got quite upset by this, whispered in my ear ‘Davies has changed’ and promptly burst into tears! 🙁

There was a giving back of lost property session (that’s the way to do it, make sure noone leaves until every item’s been claimed) which seemed to provoke hilarity that most of the stuff belonged to one of only about 3 different kids. They then handed out certificates to everyone for ‘surviving the week’ and some of the Badgers (including Davies) got their Active Badger badge, which Davies tells me he has already done before which at least means I don’t need to be sewing it on. There was various prizegiving stuff and thanks to all the staff and then the flag was lowered and camp was over.

Back to the car and I sat between Davies and Scarlett all trying to catch up with each other at once. We came home and after a lengthy cuddle Davies went off to have a shower (he was stinky), I unpacked his bag (just one machine load of washing, not bad!) and Dad left. We all had a proper catch up, the kids had some lunch and then we walked up the hill to our not-swinger friends who were having a garden party.

The food was to the usual very high standard and typically when I could pick and choose and help myself to what I did and didn’t want to eat there was loads of stuff there I found delicious.Their garden is not huge but held the 40 or so people there very well. Ady and Davies mostly sat and chatted to each other and spent some time out the front watching the planes as it is Shoreham air show this weekend and we were treated to fly bys of spitfires, hurricanes, a vulcan and as that is where my plane knowledge swiftly runs out I will have to simply say ‘and lots of other planes too’ 😆 Aswell as all the people there were also five dogs in the garden so Scarlett was in her absolute element. 🙂

I did proper grown up chatting with other grown ups including Kristianne who comes to reading group, Helen who was the senior librarian who employed me but left shortly afterwards, the couple who were at dinner there the first time we went and various other random people that Mike or Rose introduced me to. I felt I held my own well and had to talk Home Ed several times as that seemed to be the USP Mike introduced me with a couple of times. As I say Davies was mostly chatting to Ady but Scarlett was out there doing what she does best and had utterly charmed several people by chatting to them about all sorts. One of the women was at great pains to tell me how lovely she was and how she’d assumed Home Educated children would be difficult socially but Scarlett had changed her mind about that and finished up with ‘she’s a real credit to you.’ which had me feeling very proud and glowy :).

We were there a good three hours and all started to feel ready for home and just the four of us so walked back down the hill again. Scarlett spotted a dragonfly basking in the sun so Ady and I took some photos of it, it was beautiful. I piggybacked Davies as his shoes were rubbing – both kids now have rubbing crocs so must have grown shoe sizes – new shoes on Monday then, which thankfully coincides with payday!

At the bottom of the hill we smelt chips from the chip shop so popped in to get the kids a portion each for their tea and bumped into my boss from work in there. She told Davies what a nightmare I’ve been all week without him and asked Scarlett all about Marwell which was nice :).

Back home we had lots of cuddles, the kids watched Total Wipeout and then went off upstairs armed with a pile of dvds to have a sleepover. Scarlett was desperate and I’d thought Davies might like some space and time alone after a tent with 5 others all week and a very full on social week but he was just as keen :).

So, how did his week go then? He said overall he really enjoyed it and would definitely go again. He had two times when he cried / felt sad. The first was when he rung me and the second was close to the end of the week when one of the boys he’d been hanging out with all week got really arsey with him about Home Ed and claimed he must be lying and when Davies continued to insist he was indeed Home Educated and didn’t go to school headbutted him and punched him in the eye! 😯 Davies said he didn’t report it but suspected some of the other witnesses did and they also took him (Davies) along to the first aid tent. He said everyone else accepted it without much other interest. They parted friends today though and he is one of the lads from Worthing badgers so he’ll learn that Home Ed is true when Scarlett next sees him at Badgers in September ;).

Davies really enjoyed the various day trips – Chessington (he liked it lots, was too small for all of the best looking rides and would like to go again in term time when there are no queues), swimming (very cool pool with wave machines and slides), the kayaking and canoeing. He liked most of the food, said the ‘duties’ they had to do were okay, slept badly without a camping mat and claimed to be cold. His highlights were winning the dancing competition to Michael Jackson’s BAD one night, making friends, the various in jokes and feeling of being part of the group and coming home.

He felt really sorry for the other boy who was homesick the same day as him and rang home for his mum to refuse to come and get him / visit. He said he’d have felt dreadful if I’d not gone to see him on Sunday night. Not that I needed to hear that or indeed there had been any doubt but I’m SO glad I went. His best friend for the week was a cadet aged 11 who he really got on well with. He was given new wrist bands to remember two friends by to add to his collection of assorted tat tied round his arm and also added a purple band from the swimming pool too. He said everyone liked him and lots of the bigger kids said he was cute and funny. He told me about how when a cake was brought out on the last night for the husband and wife who run camp to commemorate it being their tenth year of doing so he started singing ‘Happy ten years of camping’ to the tune of Happy Birthday to you and everyone said ‘awww’ and joined in. He said he missed me loads, loved camp, will definitely go again next year and is very glad to be home!

I’m really proud of him. Really proud he did it and stood alone, so proud that he made that leap without really knowing what he was letting himself in for, got past his wobble when he did realise what it was all about and stayed anyway, enjoyed the activities, was very much part of the group, made friends, held his own about Home Ed, coped when things went wrong, didn’t retaliate with violence, stayed true to who he is and was proud of himself and then came home and sat snuggled up on my lap for a couple of hours afterwards. And best of all, it’s a whole 51 weeks before he does it again! 😆