Catching Up, Moving Forward

For three years, I've been trying to catch up. "Catching up" is my least favorite thing. I am not the kind of person who falls behind; I don't procrastinate; I always get things done ahead of time.

When I arrived at camp that first year, I walked from building to building, making my "to do" list. By the end of my tour, I was overwhelmed, whimpering, crying and the list was so long I wasn't sure what to do. There were piles of broken furniture, garbage, the grounds were overgrown and covered in downed trees and brush. S, J and I cleaned 12 hours a day for a full month and we didn't even make a dent in the list. That whole summer, I had parent after parent make comments about how run down camp looked and everyone who came to camp had "helpful" suggestions about what I should do to fix it up.

Three years later, it's a different camp. It's still 63 years old and in need of some major remodeling. It's not perfect by any means, but the garbage and junk is gone, all gone. Everything has a place (with labels, shelves and bins), we've taken down random bushes and weeds and trees and moved the random piles of wood to orderly stacks. It's clean, neat, and taken care of. It's what it should have been three years ago.

Very few people can fully appreciate how far we've come. It took three years to get it to bare minimum (clean and safe). It's easy to take for granted that things are the way they are because that's the way the are supposed to be. If you look at a fire pit and it has big, heavy rocks that make up the circle, it's easy to assume it's always been there. That's how all fire pits are, so there's nothing special about it. But when you've personally moved every single rock, you understand the blood, sweat and pain that went towards creating it and you never ever take for granted that things just happen. I have personally touched every corner of this camp and every inch is the way it is because of long hours of thought, planning and effort. I am immensely proud of this camp, regardless of the fact that there are so few to share that understanding.

We've now begun the process of moving forward, improving and adding to camp. And that is so exciting, so rewarding and 99% why I pushed through the difficult times. We're adding new programming areas (a slingshot range last year, a tomahawk range and several other small things this year), building a stage at the fire pit, putting up colorful signs, new picnic tables and small touches that are beautiful, interesting and memorable to kids. Even without very much funding, the sky is the limit in how creative I can be in additions. My dad is incredibly talented and has been using a small amount of materials and tools to make major changes.

We are still very much in the process of turning this camp around. We still have a long way to go before I can stand with pride and say that everything is exactly the way it should be or the way I want it to be. But I feel like we've made it over some major hurdles and will be able to gain some significant momentum in the near future. It is an incredible feeling to have had a role in the progress and I am more excited for summer than ever before.

When I began my career, my mentor K asked me what I ultimately wanted to do. I said I eventually wanted to be the director of a well run resident camp. I wanted it to have a long and rich history, but I also wanted a challenge, wanted to be able to make improvements and wanted to have a role in helping it grow. I wasn't sure if there was a camp out there with that combination, but I have learned that I need to be careful what I wish for. I wanted a challenge...

Kayaking...

For some reason (maybe it has to do with center of gravity), males have a difficult time kayaking. I think I could probably stand up straight and bounce around in a kayak without issue, but every year, at least one or two of the male staff roll into the water.

The mission trip kids wanted to try out kayaking and so this afternoon, myself, 2 girls and 2 guys headed out to have a relaxing afternoon paddle. None of them had kayaked before, but after a short lesson they seemed ready to go... except D. D is a 250, 6'4 football player. He looked terrified and was so unstable I wanted to tell him to get out of the kayak and go do something else. But he really wanted to go, and after a little practice, he seemed to have the hang of it.

Until we got across the lake. Just as I started thinking, "wow! He's really got it!" I watched him, in slow motion, roll to the left and then into the water. It was a sunny day, but around 50 degrees and the water is still recently-thawed-ice-cold April temperature. I heard him gasp and could see the look of shock on his face as he bobbed in the water.

I managed to keep him calm as I attempted to talk him through re-entering the kayak. Unfortunately, between his SUPER long legs, heavy jeans and sweatshirt and frigid water, he was having a REALLY hard time. We were near the shore and so I had him swim to shore, as I dragged the swamped kayak back. When we got to shore, I had the other boy (a cross country runner in school) run the mile back to camp with the instructions, "don't freak everyone out. Just get my dad and have him come with the truck."

D took off all of his clothes (except his shorts) and ran back and forth. He was miserably cold, but I was reasonably sure he wasn't at risk for hypothermia. My dad arrived in under 10 minutes. D sat in the truck and warmed up while the rest of us loaded the kayaks and sat in the back while we drove back to camp.

I wouldn't have let him kayak across the lake unless I was reasonably sure he would make it- I really didn't think that was going to happen. But it all turned out okay, so I guess it was a good adventure...

49er Miner

My dad is the Pied Piper of children and teens.

He claims that he likes living alone at camp and that all these kids are loud and obnoxious. He likes to portray himself as a crabby old man in the woods. Except that kids always love him, flock to him and he is always ready with facts about rocks or stories or something interesting in his pocket.

At camp, kids refer to him as "the Handyman."

As in, "we have a problem with bees! Let's get the handyman, he'll know what to do!"

My dad also goes to Alaska every year to pan for gold and will talk to anyone he can about gold mining.

Sometime yesterday, chaperon C decided to hide a medallion somewhere at camp and today he gave the kids their first clue (it was rhyming verses, which makes him a natural camp person!). The kids were mildly excited and spent a little time discussing their theories about where it could be. That is until my dad found out there was a clue. My dad LOVES treasure hunting. When he heard there was something hidden, his eyes lit up and he literally ran to find the clue.

He was sure he knew where it was and went running across camp to figure it out. At which point the kids went from mildly interested to totally captivated. They followed him as he went to several areas of camp and named him 49er- miner.

When C gave out the second clue, my dad was not in the area. The kids looked at the clue, and then said, "we're gonna wait for 49er-miner before we go look! He'll know where it is!" And when he arrived, they rushed to him and eagerly gave him the clue.

No one has found the medallion yet, but he is convinced he knows where it is and all of the kids are sure he is right. We'll see if day light helps their search tomorrow...

A Lotta Living

The whole group was sitting around the campfire playing the game, "Would You Rather". Each card has questions that ask people to decide between scenarios and then explain why they answered that way.

The question was, "would you rather have 9 lives or 3 wishes (without being able to wish for more wishes or for more lives). The kids all answered 9 lives, while the other chaperon (C) and I both said 3 wishes.

One of the boys said, "hmmmm, that must be an age thing. Like, once you get to a certain age and have lived a lot, maybe more lives aren't that important anymore."

(Side note to this story, both C and I are under 30) We looked at each other and burst out laughing. "Yep, once you have lived as long as us old folks, it's just exhausting to think about having more lives."

My ten year high school reunion is this summer and apparently that's a lotta livin'...

Progress

This week, 8 students from my high school are spending the week volunteering at camp. It's only Monday night and already they have gotten SOOOO much done. I am in disbelief and totally thrilled at all they have been able to do.

3 years ago, I arrived to camp, fresh faced, excited and ready to live out my dream job. Instead, I found a run down, ghost town camp that was filled with garbage, broken junk and was a mess. Myself and two others spent the entire month, 12 hours a day, cleaning and trying to get camp ready to host campers.

The progress that we have made over the past few years, combined with their hard work makes me feel incredibly optimistic. We have awesome programming and great staff, but when camp looks beautiful, the care we put into the grounds is a good illustration of the quality of our camp. I am so proud of the turn around and this week will be even more movement in the right direction.