Become a hardcore "outdoorsy type"

I took my guy and the kids to the forest again. And planned for a bonfire and dinner around the fire (grilled sausages, nothing fancy).

I say I took him because I did. I’m the initiator of this kind of stuff. And he feels more and more comfortable about the outdoors every time, and keeps thanking me for opening up his horizons.
Although I sometimes wish he was a real outdoorsy guy that could teach me stuff and make me feel safe out in the wild, I do enjoy having the upper hand. Being a true city girl, it’s really lucky I’d be with someone who’s even less used to the wilderness than I… gives me tons of self-confidence.

Anyhow. Every time we’ve been out to make a fire up til now, it’s been my doing. Simply because I’m quicker than him at getting things started. It worked every time, but I’ve assumed it was just sheer luck.
His manhood has felt a bit threatened, so I could tell he was taking over this time, as we struggled to start a fire together. We were completely working against each other (my guy the great communicator :-p), so I decided to step back and let him handle it. After 20 minutes and a lot of frustration and having managed to switch off the bit of fire that had started, he backed out and humbly asked me to take over. Took about 5 minutes and I had a fire going. As soon as it was on, he took over in the keeping of the fire. Which, now I think of it, is what’s happened every time (so typical of me to get things started but have not much interest in keeping it alive :) ).

Anyhow. What I meant to write was that this is making me think that it hasn’t been sheer luck every time. Maybe I’m starting to get the hang of this fire thing, which means I’m one step closer :)
Next time, I’ll try to drop the newspapers as a firestarter…

Away from commodities, in the middle of the forest… It was amazing and I’m already so much more of an outdoorsy person. I need to go places with “hardcore” people now and stop doing this kind of stuff with people who’ve tried less than me, because compared to them, I’m just really into this kinda stuff… But it gives me a sense of fake self-confidence (purely based on other people’s lack of experience, and not on my own experience), and most of all, I don’t get to learn anything new.

But it was awesome, and I am so far away from the little Parisian girl who’d never left the city and used to freak out by the thought of walking in grass if it reached ankle height :-p (I have pictures even, in case I forget!)