Our family liked to take off for the weekend and go camping. It usually ended up being Cathy, my wife, our two kids Jim and Pat, who were 27 and 24 respectively, me and Poppie, Cathy's stepfather. Cathy had lost her mother about four years ago which left Poppie alone.
We had not seen Poppie with anyone since her death so we tried to get him involved in family gatherings. Poppie always seemed glad that we invited him and was always more than happy to show up. On this occasion we ended up at the lake on Thursday night and planned to stay until Sunday afternoon. We went about setting up the tents and getting everything set up.
We had two tents with us so Poppie, Jim and Pat would sleep in one and Cathy and I were going to sleep in the other. After everything got set up we popped a few beers and talked about the trip and what we were going to do. We had rented a little fishing boat for Friday and Saturday and planned to do some swimming around the fishing.
Cathy and I were not into the fishing much so it was decided that I would do the barbequing and Cathy would set everything up. We started asking Poppie how he was holding up and he said that for the most part he was doing well. I asked him what he meant by the most part and he said that he got pretty lonely at night and when he got up in the morning.
Cathy asked him if he had been able to meet any ladies that he was interested in and he said that he had not. Cathy asked him why he was not looking for a nice lady friend and Poppie said that he just had not met one that he thought could be as much fun as his wife Mary was.
I asked him if he was frustrated not having a partner at night and he said that was the hardest part but that he was able to take matters into his own hands when it got to be too bad.
We all had a laugh with that but I thought it was kind of sad for him and they did like to travel and seemed to have a lot of fun together. Later that night when we went to bed I told Cathy how sad I was for Poppie not having a partner. Cathy said that it was his business and at his age it probably was not that important. I told her that I though that was the reason that most older people died soon after their partner did. Cathy just told me to drop it and we soon drifted off to sleep.
The next day everyone went fishing except Cathy and me. We stayed back so that I could start cooking some chicken for the day. Cathy and I started talking about how having Poppie with us was probably good for him. Getting him up and enjoying himself was good for him. I told her how much I thought he liked being around us as he never seemed to turn down and invitation.
I told her that it was probably that she reminded him of his wife. Cathy said that her and her mother did like doing the same things and that was probably why he liked being around us. Around 1 o'clock everyone returned from the day of fishing. They had about 12 fish with them so we went about cleaning them and putting them away.
We then set about eating lunch and relaxing with a few beers. The boys said that they wanted to take a walk and look around and who else was there and maybe do a little swimming. We told them that they should be back before it got too dark because they were not that familiar with the area. Since it did not get dark until around 9pm, it gave them plenty of time to fool around.
Poppie, Cathy and I stayed back at camp and decided to play some cards. Poppie said how much fun him and Mary use to have playing cards so we decided to play his favorite game. We played for a couple of hours but soon found ourselves just sitting around the campfire again and chatting about this and that.
I then asked Poppie if he was ok about not having sex or a partner. He said that at his age it did not present a problem too often but it would still be nice from time to time. I asked him if he still had urges and he said that he did but did not want to find someone just for that. He said that he was looking for someone like Mary that was fun to be around and liked the same things he did.