City Life Spoils You

         CHESTER: "City life spoils you. Eating three meals a day, sleeping in a bed, washing kind of regular, drinking a beer every now and then. It just spoils you something awful. I love it."*

         I never camped on the trail like Matt Dillon and Chester or a trailhand, but I have camped. I had the benefit of a sleeping bag, sometimes an air mattress, and a tent. That's roughing it enough for me. I finally swore I'd never do it again I have some retired friends who still go camping. but my bones refuse to cooperate.

         Admittedly, the smell of bacon cooking on a Coleman camp stove at the beach invigorated me and the other campers emerging from their tents, waving and wishing they had put bacon in their ice chests as well. I agree with Chester. Eating every day is a blessing. I like sleeping in a comfy bed, especially in fresh sheets. Washing my face twice a day is a routine, not a luxury. Washing my hands before meals is a relief. I can skip the beer; however, I love iced tea! I also like indoor toilets, blankets, and a barrier between me and wild animals.

         Like Chester, I am spoiled, "ruined" by all the things I take for granted. I like clean drinking water that's readily available. I like clean laundry. I like a roof over my head when it's raining. Unlike the characters in a western TV show, or in our pioneering past, I can pick up the phone in emergencies, and get help fairly quickly (not waiting for days) Yes, I am so grateful for this "city life" and those simple amenities I just can't live without. We take so much for granted and fail to realize how blessed we really are.

* From an episode of Gunsmoke in which the marshal and Chester Goode are staked outside a homestead in the woods after dark, in the cold with no supplies, except a little beef jerky.