Promise

"Can I go play over on that pile of broken glass on the edge of that cliff with those rabid wolves?" -Camper

"No, that's not safe, you could get hurt." -Me

"But I promise I won't get hurt." -Camper

"You promise promise???" -Me

A little while later, camper comes to me crying and bleeding.

"But you promised you wouldn't get hurt!" -Me

This isn't an actual scenario, rather, a culmination of experiences from early in my career. As an 18 year old, with little experience with kids, it's difficult to say no. Kids will say anything to try to convince you and even though you've been trained in safety procedures, 8 year olds can be very convincing.

Convincing until you have to go to your boss a few times and ask for an incident report and you learn that kids can't actually promise not to get hurt, accidents are, by nature, unintentional.

A month ago, my dad fell and broke his ribs while working. I wanted to file a worker's comp report but because my dad hates all things official, he was completely against it. We argued for 2 days and it was difficult for me to make a decision against my dad's wishes, even though I knew it was the right choice.

But then he said, "I promise this isn't a big deal and nothing else will come of it" and a GIANT red flag shot up and I remembered every similar conversation I'd ever had involving campers making that same promise, and my decision became clear. Even more convincing than my commitment to running this camp according to policy and procedure (which is strong), was the fact that "I promise I won't get hurt" is an almost guarantee that blood is imminent.

Cut to a month later (ie- Thursday of last week) and I miss 4 calls during the time it took me to shower. Willy was driving my dad to the hospital because he couldn't breathe. Which soon led to him being moved into the ICU. Which led to a helicopter ride across the state to a level 1 trauma center intensive care unit, 2 chest tubes and a possible upcoming chest surgery.

As of today, he's been in the ICU for 4 days and his hospital stay is going to be at least another week.

He promised that nothing would come of a little cracked rib. Luckily I'm not 18 and worried about being the "bad guy" anymore. I learned my lesson, a few bloody campers ago- making the right choice and dealing with a crabby kid (or dad) is tough, but not nearly as tough as a conversation that starts with, "but you promised..."

Party

I'm trying a new technique to recruit campers by asking parents to host a part in their home, invite other parents who might be interested in camp and let me show a video, talk to them and convince them our camp is the place for their child. This was a very common thing for camp directors did many years ago. Some still do it, and so far, it seems promising.

One of the mother's who agreed to host also sells Mary Kay products, so she's done lots of these types of parties and will hopefully be successful in helping me sell camp. In addition to a camp party, she is also hosting a Mary Kay party that day, which will hopefully increase the number of attendees. She told me about it so I could stay after my part was done and I was planning on it, until I got the invitation today.

It's not just a Mary Kay party, it is also a Pure Romance party. If you have not heard the million radio ads for Pure Romance, it is just like a Tupperware or make up party, but for sex toys! I'm a bit uptight to begin with and I think if I ever attended one of these I'd have to spend the evening actively pulling my jaw off the floor in between gasping at nearly everything that was brought out.

With friend, it would be awkward. But with a camper's mother (and a room of potential camper mothers), the very thought gives me the chills. I've not been to one of these parties, but I imagine it is like a Tuppeware party where the host takes out a product, we all pass it around, oohing and ahhing. I'm picturing a giant penis shaped toy and trying to think of what kind of reaction I would have when it was passed to me. Polite head nodding? Pinch it between two fingers and avoid looking directly at it? Excuse myself to go to the bathroom as soon as it is brought out of the bag? Feign wild enthusiasm and excitement? Perhaps not even the way these parties work, but the though of it makes me want to crawl under a rock and die.

So now I'm thinking up excuses for how to get out of there as soon as my presentation is done. I'll let you know how it goes...

Climbing

My boyfriend and I went on vacation with 3 other couples last week. These were my BF's friends, and I hadn't spent much time with them up until this trip, so there was lots of "get to know ya" conversations.

Most of them worked for big companies and as late 20 somethings, are working hard to climb the corporate ladder, establish themselves, and move forward in their careers. Not all of them liked their jobs, but acknowledged that it was part of the process. They were curious about my job- a small nonprofit organization, a board of directors as a boss, working with kids- all of it was very different that their jobs.

"Climbing the ladder" seemed to be a pretty common topic that everyone, despite having different jobs, was doing. As we spent the week laying by the pool and chatting, I heard about their current positions, jobs they wanted to apply for, their dream jobs for the future and the process of how to get there.

In several conversations, I heard similar comments from my vacation comrades- success means achieving the “right” title, gaining power, prestige and respect, and making the most money you can in your field.

Years ago, I fell in love with camp and decided I wanted to work in camping forever. Early on, using the same criteria for measuring success, I chose the highest position you could have- executive director- and set my sights on that as my ultimate goal.

After three years of being there, my goal has changed slightly. I still want to be an executive director, running a resident camp. But after reading every book and article I could find about camp, and getting to know dozens of other camp directors from a variety of different camps- all who have had vastly different careers, I am able to better define what I aspire to become.

I want to be a camp director that spends her entire career in one place. I want to put my passion and energy into building a community and making a lasting impact on both the camp and the people who come to camp.

I want my career to be a journey of growth, learning, and love.

It’s not about money, achievement, or getting ahead. It’s about making a commitment- planting seeds and watching them develop over time. It’s about facing the challenges, celebrating the successes, and being consistent throughout the years of growth and change. It's the ability to look back and know your hard work has gone into creating something.

In the past, people had the same job for decades, but now it’s common for people to change jobs every few years. I know that my life and my dreams might very well change in the future. It’s difficult to plan where you’ll be three years from now, so planning 30 years ahead is probably unrealistic. And I recognize that my “career goal” (if you want to call it that) is a bit idealistic.

So when the question of, “where do you hope to be in your career in 5 years?” comes up, I tend to just shrug and say, “oh, I’m not sure exactly what’s next for me” and then direct the conversation back to them. Because there's no way to say, "I'm working on building a legacy" without causing everyone in the room to roll their eyes.