Time for another installment of Thankful Thursday.

I am fortunate enough to have been invited to join the Round lake Weekend camping group. I was first invited in 2004 and felt very humble to be included. Why am I so thankful about getting asked to go camping you ponder? This is no ordinary camping group. This is a group of friends that have been hanging out and going on an annual camping excursion for decades. They are a close knit group of misfits that I am honoured to call friends. As a matter of fact, I refer to them as my “Extended Dysfunctional Family”.

I am honoured and humbled because this group has not brought a lot of outsiders into their inner sanctum. It is a ready made community of friends that laugh together often, cry together when necessary, and generally look out for one another. One these weekends, the laughs are loud, the beer flows steadily, and silliness reigns supreme. It is a fun summer rallying point that is anticipated highly and eagerly each year.

I am doubly thankful this year. This is my fifth year for attending and I almost never went this year. Not sure why, I guess I have been in a bit of a funk. We decided to attend kind of late in the game and I am very glad we did. Lots of quality time in Lake Diefenbaker playing catch with a football, a game of soccer, a few games of washer boxes, the ubiquitous games of Beer Darts, gatherings around the fire pit, a few games of sling shot paintball, an epic water fight, narrow misses with a water balloon cannon, and a bicycle mounted swordfight in which I did NOT get injured are all on the highlight reel.

For my RLW Family & Friends… I am Thankful.
For the laughs and memories… I am Thankful.
For the opportunity to be part of a great community of wonderful people… I am truly Grateful.

Thanks Steve for the gentle subtle nudges to attend.

“A good friend is a connection to life – a tie to the past, a road to the future, the key to sanity in a totally insane world.”  ~Lois Wyse