Work Weekend

Work Weekend is complete. When I left for camp on Thursday, I was DREADING it. My phone had been ringing off the hook all week with board members making last minute requests and asking dumb questions. I was worried about the weather, all the drama from weeks before and I was getting nervous about being the new Director in front of all of those people (many who had been at last year's weekend with the old director).

Friday was chilly and eventually kind of rainy. The first group of volunteers who arrived started in cleaning cabins that had been re-roofed in the fall and had layers of dust and grime all over everything. Those cabins were where people were supposed to stay overnight, so it was important to get them clean. Vacuum, sweep, wipe down the mattresses- I assumed it would take 2 hours or so. Wrong. The group wanted to wipe down wooden bunk beds, scrub plywood floors and I thought I was going to have to shoot myself in the face. Camp is all dirt, cabins get dirty.

Before I lost my mind and started screaming, I grabbed a vacuum and broom and started cleaning one of the cabins on my own. It helped me feel more focused and less likely to yell, and eventually, the cabins were clean and life was good.

Saturday was a PERFECT day. Sunny, not too hot and not too cold, the 68 volunteers were like animals, attacking every project without mercy. It was amazing to walk around camp and see the whirlwind going on. Someone needed something from my dad every 2 minutes, and so he literally spent the day running around camp, and I (although to a slightly lesser degree since I don't know where any tools are or anything about any of the projects) had a similar experience. People seemed very receptive to me as the Director, despite the fact that nearly everyone was my parent's age and it had to be strange to see me in that role. I felt slightly odd when I spoke to the group at dinner, thanking them for their hard work and talking about camp. But I ignored it and everything was quite lovely.

In the end, the ENTIRE list of projects was complete. I was a little surprised (in a good way) that we were able to do SO much, since last year we seemed to do so little. But it was a blessing and I couldn't be more thankful for everyone's hard work and generosity with their time and kindness. I left the weekend more excited for camp than ever before and I can't wait to go back in a few weeks for the summer!