We're camping this weekend, so we've spent the evening packing up and washing clothes and linens and getting our shit together.  I hate this part of camping.

I enjoy the drive up, for the most part, except I'm always anxious to get there.  And then I hate the setting up.  It's so much work.

But then I love what comes next.  I love the sitting around the fire, the kinship between friends, the cooking, the eating, the drinking, the talking, the quiet - OH, I love the quiet.  I love being where I don't get a signal on my Blackberry.  I love listening to the birds and the trees and the water and the fire and my friends.

It makes the hard work worthwhile, I guess.  But then we have to pack up to come home.  And then the drive home.  And then unpacking and laundry.  And it's SO hard.

Can't get something for nothing, right?