Staff

I am officially old. I realized it yesterday. It doesn't make me sad or happy, but I do find it interesting how it just hit me. I thought aging was gradual, but nope, a few days ago, I felt like a high school student playing "grown up" and then yesterday, there it was, actual adulthood.

Here's what happened. J and I went to the airport to pick up the first of 6 international counselors flying in. He is 18 and comes from Colombia. He is 5'4 and about 110lbs and was wearing trendy hipster clothes. And the first thing I thought when I saw him was, "ohmygosh, he is the cutest thing I've ever seen." But not cute in the , "I want to be your girlfriend" sense. I think he's cute in the "I want to put him in my pocket and feed him skittles, and pinch his cheeks and make sure he crosses the street safely" way. And right at that moment, I knew that when you stop finding 18 year olds dreamy and start finding them adorable, that's when you are old. So far, it's not bad, this being old thing. I already feel wiser and I've been standing a little taller.

Anyway, Cutie joins several other staff who have arrived this week. We had a girl come on Monday and I LOVE her. She jumped right into things and she is very helpful. Now I have the Waterfront Director and her who I can count on for ANYTHING and who are sweet and wonderful. The Art Director (J) is a lovely girl, she rambles on about herself a lot, but she's very sweet. While we were at the airport, another guy and another girl both arrived. So far I've only spent about 20 minutes total with them, but in the short bursts I have been with them, they've been friendly, positive, helpful and seem to be adjusting to camp very well. Tonight, three more international staff will be arriving. I am very eager to meet them! I hope they are as wonderful as the rest of the group.

It's possible that my recent adulthood has been coming on for a while now. I feel very connected to this group of staff in a way I never have before. For the first 7 summers of camp, I was eager to meet everyone because I knew they would be my new best friends and summer crushes. Last year I immediately hated all of the staff for reasons I never fully figured out. But this year, I feel very protective and mother-hennish about this group. I find myself thinking about their happiness and personal development and futures. I believe that camp will positively affect them and I am so excited for them. I want to mentor them and inspire them and take care of them. Camp is such a personal and emotional job and I am trying to remain objective and focused so that I can leave my feelings out of work. But I think the nature of this job requires all of us to build relationships (with each other, the kids, the families) and so emotions are just part of it. And really, that's part of why I love this job so much. I don't know if that will fade with age.