Back to the Woods

On Thursday, I headed back into the woods. I was excited to go back to camp and excited to skip two days of work. My office has been stressful lately- economic problems haven't hit us yet, but they are coming. We are in the beginning stages of our annual campaign and everyone is stressed out about it, because we need that money to operate. Will people be in a giving mood this year? I don't know, but I'm stressed about what will happen in the months ahead. Further ahead than that, March-May looms like a black cloud. Will people be able to spend $500 for Junior to go to camp for a week? I don't know, and it makes my stomach hurt to think about. My hope is that people who saw a value in donating money will still feel that way and give, despite the state of the economy, and that when it comes time for camp, people will make their children a priority.

My therapist would say that worrying about the future is pointless and to live in the now, blah blah... And I'm trying. So I headed into the peaceful North woods.

The leaves on the trees were bright yellow, orange, and red and camp seems to have a golden glow. It was breathtaking and very calming. My dad had a fire roaring in the fireplace of his house and also outside, so everywhere I went had a really nice smoky fire smell. He's been working hard clearing trees and brush, getting rid of the random junk that still needed to go, organizing and changing camp from a run down trailer park yard into a beautiful woodsy retreat.

He showed me around and pointed out all of the projects he's done and we talked about the projects he would be working on in the future. We share a similar vision for how camp should look and when we get on a roll with planning, we tend to build off each others' energy until we are both so excited we can hardly stand it. By the time May comes, we are going to have this camp looking better than it has in years. I'm so thrilled. It makes all of the stress and hard work worth it.