Missing mess kit saga

As you know, Darly went to Girl Scout camp back in July. When I picked her up I asked to be sure that she had everything. She had a check list that she was supposed to use to pack everything up before leaving. I asked her and she said it was all there.

Then after we are loaded in the car and almost all of the way home she tells me (and she could have told me this at home...it's a bit of a blur) that they couldn't fit her mess kit* in her bags so it's by itself.

WHAT????!!!!

Hold the phone here! "you're telling ME, the person who never looses ANYTHING (well practically anything) that we've just left something behind?" Oh I was livid! and of course Darly answers with the same thing she says every time she's screwed up "Sorry" with the tone of course that means "you're totally unreasonable here mom!"

Luckily all is not lost. I do not have to drive all the way back to the camp because they bring the lost and found to the GS Counsil office after the campground closes for the summer. I just have to wait unil camp closes on Aug 6th. Okay!

So I call yesterday and get the procedure...no they won't look to see if it's there for me, bummer! I have to come down to the office and find it myself.

So we go there today (and another bummer is that the shop where we get our badges is closed this week for inventory! I'll have to go back next week.) And the receptionist tells me the procedure...I have to go downstairs to the girls' bathroom and find the camp name on the wall and then dig through all that stuff to find my daughter's mess kit. great!...go back and read that with dripping sarcasm!

Now we're in the bathroom and find the camp name and WHOLY COW! You would NOT BELIEVE how much stuff was in this bathroom! They were so very nice to organize it in trash bags...labeled SHOES, JACKETS, PONCHOS, etc... but the mess kits (YES! THERE WAS MORE THAN JUST MY DD'S) were just all over it seemed...but really some were sitting on a bench (for the shower) and the rest were on the floor...oh and I couldn't believe how many were no longer in their dunk bags** So while some were still in their bags there were just as many that were not in the bags. Ours was among the ones not in it's bag.

I looked everywhere for our bag. I thought our bag would stand out as I had sewed it with pink thread and had made it by cutting a laundry bag in half and sewing up the bottom. Well no such luck on the bag. It seems that I wasn't the only mom who had the exact same idea...I counted at least 5 that were the same type laundry bag I had used.

Then I looked for the dishes. I found everthing except for our spoon...funny there weren't any of that kind of spoon (it was one of those sets where the fork & knife hook onto the spoon and slip into a plastic bag...that I didn't find either! Hey, that might be the key to finding the spoon...look for the bag!)

I just took a bag since I figure that someone else has probably taken our bag. The receptionist asked how we did and said we could leave our name for when they get rid of the left overs if they find our spoon they'll call us. I'm not holding my breath.

Since I have to go back next week for our badges I'll check again hoping for less stuff to sort through. and hope that the other searchers haven't just made it a bigger mess.

Darly says the reason she didn't use the checklist and make sure the mess kit was packed is that they only gave the girls 30 minutes to pack up and she needed help to get her sleeping bag rolled up...oh and there was no room to roll up her sleeping bag because they had 5 girls in her tent. I have to wonder about that as I give her plenty of time to get ready for stuff at home and she spends the time playing instead. I should email the camp manager...ha ha Darly doesn't know I have that power.

*A mess kit is your personal set of dishes...plate, bowl, cup, fork, knife & spoon.

**A dunk bag is a mesh bag with a draw string that you place your mess kit in to dunk it in hot water after you wash it to rinse it and the hot water helps to dry the dishes quicker.

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Answers to your comments:

THIS IS NOT YOUR KID! I get to mess her up. Ha ha!

Okay, rant over.

The only thing that I was upset over was that she forgot to tell me that the mess kit was not in her bag and when I asked to be sure that she still only had 2 bags to take home she said yes. If she had remembered that the mess kit was not in her bag, I would have dug through all the other bags in the horse trailer (ewwwe yuck!) and found the mess kit as well. And she could have tied the mess kit to her back pack or stuffed it in the laundry bag that they used to pack her sleeping bag and we wouldn’t have been in this mess. *Sigh* I’m also thinking that a better policy for the camp would be to keep track of how many bags/items the girls put in the trailer when they load it. So on the list have “Darly: 3 items”…so when I go to get the items they could tell me I need to look for 3. Or at the very least have the girls put their items in the trailer together. Her sleeping bag was on one side and her back pack on the other…what’s up with that?

TC said...
of course Darly answers with the same thing she says every time she's screwed up "Sorry" with the tone of course that means "you're totally unreasonable here mom!"

Sounds like maybe she was right? ;-)

Even the most organized people in the world forget or lose things from time to time... glad you got almost everything back.
No, I don’t think I was being unreasonable. I’ll admit that perhaps I am a bit neurotic about making sure I don’t leave any of my stuff behind somewhere…but that is inherited and she should have that DNA as well! I’m glad we got most of it back too, but for next year she’s gonna have a plan and if necessary…I’ll make her hike all the way back to her tent to be sure she got it all.

Heather said...
LOL well... the good news is you only have lost a spoon right? I am sorry you had to endure all that!
Yes, all that is truly lost is the spoon and there may be a chance of getting that back…but the time spent searching for it can never be recovered.

Lynn said...
As a totally organized (neurotic) person, when it comes to packing and not losing things, I understand your frustration about Darly losing something at camp. I'm guessing it's not the actual loss of dunk bag etc. that was bothering you, but the lack of paying attn. to be sure that she had everything, that was probably bothering you. (sometimes I feel like the kids don't really care about the stuff, because they didn't buy it). However, I can tell you, from experience, that you're lucky that's all she lost.
You’re absolutely right about the lack of attention. In fact I seriously considered just not bothering trying to recover the mess kit. But the plate & cup were from our camping gear and I really hated to part with it…as it means more dish washing while we camp. And yes I do realize it could have been much worse. I suppose a bit of it is the shock that she did forget because usually she is much more conscientious about her things

Joan said...
Well it appears Darly is in good company...the amount of "stuff" in the Lost & Found indicates she's not the only girl with this problem. While I understand how frustrating and time-consuming it can be for mom, please cut Darly some slack...this plea comes from a once-upon-a-time camper who lost her share of belongings...trust me!
true! Very true! Of course all the camp materials said to only send things that you don’t mind loosing because the girls always leave things behind. But I don’t think that it is too early to teach her how to be responsible for her belongings.

Kailani said...
Talk about determination! I think I would have just said, "forget it". ;-)
I almost did. But the GS council office is just a few blocks from the park we go to every Wednesday. Now if I would have had to drive all the way back up to the campground to go get it…that would have been a totally different story!