By Kelli Bowen
This seems like a fitting title, because WOW 2020 has been a year! Ew. Gross. Let's move on. A silver lining that I have for 2020 was held this past weekend. There was mini and socially-distanced version of an event that I love: Wild Outdoor Women!
This little gem of an event is held in Lake Metigoshe State Park north of Bottineau North Dakota. Wild Outdoor Women brings ladies together to learn about outdoors events, sharpen skills, build friendships and have a great time.
Most years, women from age 16 to 86 flock to the park and stay in the dorms, like summer camp for adults. We have great food, great events, visit around a bonfire in the evening, and inevitably have a great time.
This year, due to Covid, the dorms did not open and the event was almost canceled <insert gasp> BUT with session options reduced, not offering a dormitory option, and bottles of tequila-scented hand sanitizer a-plenty, the event went on! For the weekend, my sister, myself and dozens of other women sporadically dispersed around the park participating in various events. We kayaked, learned pickleball, learned how to fly fish (ON International Women's Fly Fishing Day), and practiced some archery.
My sister and I slept in a tent for the first time together in over a decade. We were the only tent in the campground, so we were social-distance champs in that respect. We drove across the state with hand sanitizer at the ready and face masks in the glove-box. We had a PHENOMENAL weekend.
In a year where everything seems to be canceled or changed or watered-down, we still had a wonderful time. This weekend was another example of life is what you make of it, so we can focus on all of the crud or we can focus on the good things that happen.
The next time you get bogged down in all the muckety muck of how terrible 2020 has been, go find yourself. I seem to find myself outside. Hop in a kayak, walk down a trail, pitch a tent, go for a drive or lay a blanket down and sit on the ground. You don't have to make it elaborate, just make it.
For 2020 being a terrible year, it's also going to be the year my sister and I tented near Canada when the lows were in the 40s. It will be the year we made friends with a few ladies with common interests and common senses of humor. It will be the year that we did a cross-state road-trip seeing more of NoDak in one weekend than I've ever seen before (more on that later). It will also be the year that we have all overcome obstacles and grown, hopefully for the better. WOW 2020.
Kelli makes her home in rural Cass County with her husband, two daughters (8 and 5), two dogs, and random poultry. She works for a regional seed company by day and tries to be an alright mom, wife, friend and writer by night.
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