My first reaction to learning that Isabela was going to have a sleepover camping trip with her class was, “What? NO WAY!”

Chris’ reaction was, “Hey, that’s great!”

Which made me realize that the problem was that, whether or not Isabela was ready, I was not ready.

At first Isabela did not want to go, but as the time came closer, and as they talked about it more and more in their class, she started to get excited. Just a few days before the trip, without any prompting from us, she decided to sleepover.

After dropping her off at the camp and helping her set up her things on the bunk bed in the cabin, we said goodbye and without a flinch or second glance she bounced off to play. My, this is a different child than the one who used to sob and sob every morning at school drop off, during recess and when I was not the first parent in line to pick her up.

They hiked, created nature art, visited a salmon hatchery, the water reservoir and dam, roasted marshmallows, sang camp songs and SLEPT OVER in a room with 25 giggling girls. Granted, I’m not sure how much sleep they actually got.

Isabela is growing up.