I'm not scared

Seth isn't home tonight.

"Where is he?" you ask. He's in a tent at a campground about 20 miles south of here with three of his friends. Four 16-year-olds camping alone. In the dark. In the cold.

But I'm not scared. Absolutely not.

I'm not imagining all sorts of gruesome things that could happen to them in that tent all alone. I'm not thinking about bears. Or snakes. Or kidnappers. Or serial killers.

Nope. Not even a little bit.

Apparently, only Sprint has service there. We have Verizon. I told him before he left that if he didn't find some way to communicate with me, I would likely drive down there to find him. Fortunately, one of his friends has Sprint. He borrowed the cell phone and called me tonight while I was in class. When I saw the missed call, I immediately left my classroom and called him back:

Seth: What's up, Mom?

Me: Are you okay???? Are you cold? Are you hungry?

Seth: Mom. We've only been here a few hours. We're fine. We went on a short hike, and now we're eating dinner. We cooked hot dogs over a fire.

[Fire?!?! What if they don't fully extinguish that fire? What if it spreads to their tent and burns them up in the night? Okay, settle down. Settle. Down. They're all scouts. They will extinguish the fire properly. Of course they will. I'm not scared.]

Me: Seth, be sure you extinguish the fire.

Seth: Yes, Mom. Of course.

Me: Is your tent set up? Will you all fit in it?

Seth: Yes, we all fit, even Ashton's dog.

[Dog?? Dog??? That's wonderful! A dog will scare away any potential serial killers.]

Me: Oh, you have a dog with you. How nice. What kind of dog? How big is it?

Seth: Uh, I dunno what kind. A big dog, though.

[YESSSSS! A big dog! Perfect.]

Me. A big dog. That's great.

Seth: Okay, I need to go now. We're gonna roast marshmallows and make s'mores.

[Yikes, s'mores could definitely attract bears. What if they bring them inside the tent? No, no, they won't do that. They're scouts. They know better. I'm not scared. I'm not scared.]

Me: Okay, Seth. Remember not to take food inside your tent. And text me right when you wake up in the morning. You have Dad's mummy sleeping bag, right, the one that keeps you warm in sub-zero temperatures?

Seth: Yes, Mom. But I don't think it's going to get below zero.

Me: Probably not, but I want you to be warm. Text me in the morning. Please be safe. I love you.

Seth: Love you too.

And thus ended our conversation. I won't hear from Seth for at least another 10 hours. Here I am, all alone, trying so hard to convince myself that...

I'm not scared.

And failing miserably.