Camping with the Neighbor Ch. 01: Intro

I hang up the phone. My wife still doesn't want much to do with me. I've tried talking with her but it truly does look as though we are headed for a divorce. What we had is fading, it's both sad and frustrating. She has been staying at her sister's house for the past month, and I haven't seen her in the past 2 weeks. I don't know what else to do. I just wish I could talk with her, and have everything go back to how it was years ago. I wish I could touch her ... hell, I wish she would touch me. Five months without her embrace is starting to take a toll on my body and mind. Touching myself isn't enough. It gets harder each day to get off. Ha, life was sure better with her love in my life.

Driving into a campground, and I'm finally at my destination. We have a son, James, and he's starting his senior year of high school next week. He's 17, and we are out for a camping trip with one of his best friends, Mike. James lives with me at the moment, and god knows this fight has been affecting him. He's got a great head on his shoulders though. He has told me countless times that separations happen and that he won't let it cloud his outlook of his mother and myself. He is a great kid.

Making my way through a couple dirt paths I make my way to campground #12. I see my son has already arrived with his friends. I walk out of the car and am greeted by my son and Mike.

"Hey guys, how long have you been here?" I ask.

"Maybe 15 minutes. Not long really." Replies James.

I see the other car to be a familiar silver SUV.

From around the side I see two more men with camping gear, unloading the car. They head over to us and say hello. The younger man is Ben, Mike's older brother by two years. He comes along side his father, John. John reaches out his hand to me and says "Nice to see you again Brian. How was the drive?"

"It was good, a lot of thinking time on these back roads though. What was it, 2 hours?" I replied.

John spoke "Yeah, just about. Lets get everything unpacked and then we can have lunch, maybe talk more then."

"Yes sir." I said.

John was actually a neighbor. He lived a few houses down from mine. And though our kids were in the same grade and buddies, we never really had much contact with each other. He was quite different from me looks wise. I was 5'11" and 43 years of age. John was 6'1", maybe 6'2" and 54. I had dark short hair with a goatee, both showing some gray hairs coming in. My body had some muscle but was also accompanied by a little weight around my gut and a dark hairy chest, stomach, arms and legs. John was a fit and tall man, short combed back hair also sporting a goatee but with a complete salt and pepper look. He didn't seem to have much body hair on his arms or legs, but they had some little muscle definition to them. and finally he wore a thin pair of glasses.

We all unpacked our gear and started to set up the tents. Both john and I brought a single tent that we would both share with our respective children. Since John had two of his children with him, his tent was obviously larger to fit all three of them. By the time we unloaded and ate a couple sandwiches, It was already 2 pm. John suggested we go for a small hike and pick out some sticks to use for roasting food later that night.

Following a few paths around the area, we all explored the woods around us. It was a nice time, and It got my problems off my mind, if only for a few hours. We found some interesting sites, one of them being the lake, which had a spot to swing from a rope tied up to a tree. We talked about trying it out potentially tomorrow.

Finally we made our way back to the campsite. It was around 6 or 7 pm and we decided to roast marsh mellows and hotdogs for our first night camping out. We ate and chatted about varies topics, mainly to do with James and Mike starting high school, and maintaining a higher grade this year.

Soon it became time for us to hit the hay. As John and myself were about to head off into our respective tents, Mike asked "Wait, can we maybe sleep by the fire tonight?" I looked at John to see what he thought.

He replied with " I guess we could, but we don't want to be too close to the fire. Brian how do you feel sleeping out here tonight?"

"Shouldn't be a problem. I'm just worried about bugs biting me, but it doesn't seem to be an issue tonight." I said.

The boys grabbed their sleeping bags, and set up a little triangle for them to continue any conversations they had. Meanwhile, John and I set our bags on the other side of the fire. As we lay by the fire, John and I started to have a conversation just between us for once.

It started as a typical "who are you and what do you do" conversation. And once we got to know each other a little more, the conversation lead to our marriages. John's and mine were pretty different. John had his wife and love still very much alive. He talked about how she is a bit of a health nut and how she cooks these great meals for him. It was no wonder how fit of a guy he was with a wife like that. It was just unfortunate that I brought down the conversation with my marital issues.

"Well, it doesn't sound good." John said.

"It doesn't feel good." I followed up.

"If you have another chance to take her on a date, try to recreate that spark you two lost. not to sound cliché." John chuckled.

"Ha, I'm trying my best, but at this point I don't think we can recover." I grumbled out.

The boys were finally asleep, while us two dads were still wide awake. John asked " do you sleep well Brian?"

I replied "Not lately. What about you?"

John replied with a pop of a pill "No, not for the past few years. I've been prescribed with this medication to help me sleep. One pill usually does the trick. Not sure why but one day I wasn't staying asleep and it never stopped since."

"Well, now you shouldn't have a problem from the sound of it." I said.

John lifted his bottle "If you are still having trouble later, help yourself to one. I know that's suppose to be a no-no, but everyone does it."

"Thanks buddy." I smiled back.

After 20 minutes or so, John was asleep in his sleeping bag. Shortly after, I started drifting off myself. "(looks like I won't need it tonight. Just wish I wasn't stuck with this hard on every night.)". I sighed as I drifted off to sleep thinking of my wife.