This is how I’ve spent large portions of the last few days: gathering clothes and sewing skirts. Our family will embark on a pioneer trek in just over two weeks. As you can see, historical realism isn’t really what the venture requires. We’ve got plastic buckets for luggage carriers and the fabrics I used are definitely not period. It is more of a pioneer LARP than a historical re-enactment. Howard labelled it Brigham-punk LARP. Yet we’re all going, because as a family venture it pulls us all out of our usual context and will thus spur us to growth. Theoretically. It might also spur miserableness and resentment from those who feel severely technology deprived. I might be one of them at some point. I certainly had moments of grouchiness while sewing all those skirts and thinking about all the other projects that were waiting for my attention.
This pioneer trek thing is fairly common here in Utah. My facebook page is filled with pictures of folks who’ve already been this year. I looked at their faces. Then I looked at their heads. All the men were happily wearing their hats. All the women had sun beating down on them and bonnets dangling by strings. This tells me that pioneer bonnets are annoying to wear. Note that we have hats instead. I also sewed nice big pockets into all the skirts, because if I have to hiking in a skirt, I want pockets to carry all my things.
Mostly, I’m looking forward to the trek. I like being outdoors. I don’t mind camping. I enjoy hiking. I do carry quite a bit of anxiety about how some of my kids will handle the stress and fatigue. I always get anxious if Howard is likely to be stressed, because some piece of my brain is convinced that preventing his stress is my job. (It isn’t.)
With the majority of the clothing acquired, I can move on down the list of equipment. We’ll be ready when the time comes.