Letter to My Staff

Dear 2008 Staff,

As our adventure comes to a close, I wanted to take a moment to share a few thoughts with you. It feels like just a moment ago, you were arriving to camp (many of you during one of the many May/June power outages), and singing our way through training (does everyone remember where your duck is?). The summer has been filled with laughter, fun, friendship, prayer, crazy campers, sunshine, singing, games and weekend adventures. There were some tough moments, some moments that seemed to drag on, but OHMYGOSH, it flew by and I am sad to see the end!

I want to thank you for your hard work this summer, but I don’t know if there are words that can truly do my feelings justice. A simple, “thank you, you worked really hard” doesn’t even skim the surface. Working at camp isn’t a normal job (I think you’ve all figured that out at this point). It is an intense, emotionally demanding, nonstop, exhausting, life experience. I have not only asked you to follow directions and do assigned tasks, but also to give your energy, be creative, build relationships, care, pray, love, be patient, be flexible, have a sense of humor… and to do this with little rest, few breaks, and after cold showers. I know it has not always been easy. And yet, I have rarely heard complaints, and everyone, all the time, didn’t just do what was asked, but managed to blow me away with your kindness, your willingness to help and your beautiful spirit.

I firmly believe that when we talk about changing lives through camp, it is not because of the activities or the fancy facilities, but because of the feeling kids experience when they are surrounded by positive people, who have a focus on fun, kindness, care, and encouragement. To feel truly cared about, and that you matter, and that there are people who want to help you seems to be the standard with all of you, but is unique to the rest of the world. To be surrounded by that kind of energy bathes your soul in a golden light that changes anyone who has the opportunity to experience it. I know that the campers who came here this summer left with that feeling, but they weren’t the only ones whose lives you so deeply affected.

This summer was challenging for me in so many ways. This was my first year at overnight camp, and I ended up doing the job of 2 people, when in reality, I even sure if I was ready for the job I’d been hired for. I came into this experience expecting to be led, expecting to learn, and finding out that I was going to be on my own was frightening and overwhelming. I know that all of you came in with expectations as well, and because of the situation, were asked to help out in roles you didn’t expect to play. Each day, sometimes multiple times I day, I was impressed/thankful/relieved/overwhelmed near tears with gratitude towards one, some or all of you for something wonderful that you did. I know many of you gave up breaks, worked on your night off, and took on responsibilities that were not originally intended for you. Please know that I felt and appreciated each sacrifice you made. If anyone ever asks you, “have you ever changed someone’s life?” you can tell them “yes.” because without all of you, I wouldn’t have made it through this summer.

How do I put such gratitude into words? Are there words to express my appreciation? You didn’t just work this summer, you shared yourself; you released your spirit and let it grace those around you. You were a living rainbow, spreading beauty and happiness with each idea you had and each time you opened up your heart to lead a song, skit, prayer, cheer or activity. Thank you for that. Thank you for being here at CAMP. Thank you for touching my life, thank you for touching the lives of the campers you were entrusted. I appreciate it, the parents of the campers appreciate it and the campers themselves appreciate it. None of us can adequately put into words what you gave us, but know that your presence here mattered.

Please know that you are always welcome back at CAMP (as staff or just as a visitor passing through). Likewise, you are always welcome in my life, so if you are in BIG CITY and need someone to take you out to lunch, or need someone to call on the phone, know that I will always be there for you. You will be in my thoughts and in my heart and I wish nothing but the best for all of you in the coming year and beyond.

Thank you.

Exhausted

At the Monday morning staff meeting, I told the staff, "please, whatever you do this week, just try to enjoy yourselves. In September or October, once you've had a chance to sleep in a few times, eat something other than camp food, your feet have finally come clean, and you've been away from camp for a while, you will miss it. You will miss it terribly. You will sing songs no one else appreciates, you will think about the campers and the counselors and the lake. You will ache for this place, even though, right now, all you can think about is being done."

Every summer, at the end of camp, by the time we get to this last week, I am vowing to get a new career and swearing I will never come back. I did it as a counselor, as an Art Specialist, as the Assistant Director and as the Director. And as soon as the last kid walks out the door and everything is clean and organized for the off season, all I can think about it camp. It takes about a week of being away from camp for me to start missing it, and then getting excited for next summer. The excitement builds all fall, winter and spring until the next summer comes and I practically BURSTING with passion for camp.

I know all of this. But I am still having a REALLY difficult time taking my own advice this time around. I DESPERATELY want to go home. I have been making list after list of things I want to do when I get home. "Sit on the couch and order take out food and watch tivo" is at the top. I know that's a lame thing to be so excited about, but I have been responsible for kids, counselors and buildings all summer long and the weight on my shoulders that started out heavy but manageable because it was just so exciting that I was able to carry it, is now crushingly exhausting and I just need a break. I miss my friends and family and roommates, I miss running to Target, quiet nights reading a book in bed, working out, cooking... the list goes on and on.

And so today, instead of soaking in these last few days of fun, sun, laughter, silly kids, my staff that I love and everything that makes camp run through my veins, I have spent several hours staring off into space. I keep meaning to go have fun, or even be productive and pack my office. But I am paralyzed. I am crabby, tired, and want to burst into tears. I tried going in to my room to take a nap, but that felt claustrophobic, so now I'm back to staring off into space.

In about 2 weeks, I am going to be mad at myself for not enjoying these last few days. But right now, it just feels like the minutes are ticking by in slow motion and all I can think about is home.

Crabby

I think the main reason why this job is difficult is because I am too sensitive to be in a leadership role. I take things too personally and am too eager to please every person I come in contact with. As summer ends and I look ahead, I am not sure if I will soon be getting a new boss or if I will be the new person in charge, and while I am sometimes eager to take over and rule this place, today I am thinking I might not be ready. Maybe I still need a boss to be the buffer between the public and my fragile ego.

Whenever you work with people, no matter how hard you work, how much effort you put in, some people will walk away pleased and some will walk away complaining. I have a difficult time with that, because I have poured my heart and soul into this camp, giving up sleep, personal time, missing my family and friends, and working 15-17 hours per day, almost every day. So when someone complains, I wonder how I could possibly do anything different in order to make them happy.

And so today, I am excessively crabby. I have worked hard and sacrificed a lot and I have been met with a steady stream of complaints. I am sick to death of apologizing over and over. People are never happy, and if they are, those people don't make the effort to give feedback. I'm tired and ready to go home.

Out Of It

I'm still sick, although definitely getting better. Yesterday was miserable and I spent a lot the day going through the motions, except that I was wading through a world of jello- I could kind of see, and kind of hear, but it was all fuzzy and I was pretty out of it. It is pirate week and the Assistant Director is SO excited. He has several pirate outfits and lots of ideas for programming. It's been wonderful because I can wallow in misery while he leads the kids through.

Last night he had them building rafts out of wood and logs. Today, they carried them down to the swimming beach and competed in a relay race where two kids paddled out to the buoy and then back to the beach and switched with the next two on their team and so on. I was a little worried about how it would go, but it was really fun and I would even consider doing it again next summer.

It's no fun to be sick, but there is added pressure because we have such a small staff, if one person is out, it is felt by everyone. And not to be too full of myself, but I do a lot around here. I was worried. Thankfully, by this point in the summer, everyone knows what needs to be done, and my staff have done a fabulous job of picking up the slack. They have managed to read my mind, take initiative or take ownership on almost everything this week, so camp hasn't fallen apart even though I took two naps today. Maybe this is what my job would be like if we were fully staffed. I would love to put my feet up and chill on a regular basis. So that's my new goal. I would like to get this camp to the point where everything runs so smoothly that I can relax a lot, and not just when I'm on my death bed, but in full health.

I think we can get there...

Family, Friends and Flu

All summer long, I have emailed people about coming to camp to visit and this week, every single person I know decided to take me up on it. My good friend M was at camp at the beginning of the week, several people connected to the church came out to visit throughout the week, and this weekend my aunt and uncle (whose daughter was at camp this week), my mom, brother, roommate, family friend and her daughter also came out to camp.

I was thrilled to have everyone at camp. I have been talking about it all summer, sending emails, blogging and finally, lots of people who have heard so much, finally got to see it. I have so many people who have been supportive of me and of camp in a variety of ways, and having them here was the best support of all. I think they all have a better understanding of the potential greatness, as well as the shortcomings of camp. And I think they have a better appreciation of what I am doing 24/7. Plus, it was really fun to be able to share it with them.

However, this weekend I was sick. I started sneezing on Friday and by Saturday afternoon, pretty much wanted to lay down and die. I was trying to manage the Saturday afternoon cleaning while welcoming guests, while trying not to sneeze/vomit/collapse. It was not fun. But I managed to spend some quality time with my guests, enjoy the beach for a little while and even take a short kayak trip yesterday morning. I was determined not to let being sick interrupt my weekend and I was so happy to spend time with my family and friends.

Yesterday afternoon, after everyone had left, I collapsed on the couch in my dad's house, put in a movie, made some popcorn and gloriously did NOTHING for several hours. And now, it is the first day of the LAST WEEK. I can't believe it is almost over. I am going to try to soak in every minute I can this week...

My Favorite Staff

Yesterday S left. I almost cried. I almost tried to lock her in her room and force her to stay. I am very sad she is gone.

S is studying abroad in Italy this semester and I knew she would be leaving a week early. I didn't know that this would be the craziest summer of all time and that she would turn in to my left hand. As I was challenged with unforeseen responsibilities, S was the one who picked up the slack and took on so many of the things I should have spent my summer doing. She was the one who lead activities and helped me create programming. She missed a lot of breaks, a lot of nights off, and worked really hard, never complaining, always smiling. She single handedly got me through this summer without realizing just how much support I found in her positive attitude and sense of humor.

Before she left, we exchanged cards, and she hugged me, telling me I was like the big sister she never had. I wanted to cry. How do you say thank you to someone who has done so much for you and then continues by saying such nice things? Later I read the card she'd given me and finally did cry, because what she wrote was the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me. She made all of the hard work this summer worth it. It is nice to know what you do matters, and she let me know that I made an impact. And that's just the greatest thing someone can give.

And now she is gone, and I am sick and I don't know how I will make it through this week without her.

And the Winner is...

Last night I was the most evil person on earth and took down the score sheet from the dining hall. You should have heard the complaints! But the point totals were too close and I wanted to make sure that the announcement of winner was a surprise.

Teams earned some last minute spirit points, we added in polar bear plunge points for Saturday and we had a winner!

On Saturday, we had our normal Family Day Celebration with songs, program awards, and each group got to show off their cheer. And then FINALLY, after all of that, I read off the point totals. There was lots of cheering and excitement, and it was fun to see the kids so into it. The oldest group of boys (13 and 14 year olds) were the winners, and when I announced it, they all jumped up and roared with cheers, embracing in a huge group hug while jumping up and down, shouting their team cheer. 13 and 14 year old boys are too cool for everything, so to see them so excited and in to the theme throughout the week, and then get so overjoyed at winning was wonderful

Earlier in the week, I'd had my dad cut 8 inch round, 1 inch wide wooden circles from a log and S and I had painted all 9 Olympic ring colors for each of our teams, as well as the camp name, and "Spirit Award". The boys were excited to receive them and so were the counselors. It was so funny, because we'd handed awards to all of the kids, and still had one left for K, but I don't think he saw it, because he looked a little sad. And then we handed it to him and his eyes lit up and he said, "OH! Good!"

It was such an exceptional week and the kids and staff were all completely lost in the magic of it. I was so proud to be part of such a wonderful week, and I know that it is a memory that kids and staff will think of fondly for a really long time.

Fun=Hard Work

It's only Wednesday, but already, this has been one of the most fun weeks of camp this summer. The kids and staff are SO into the Olympic theme and their enthusiasm seems to grow each day.

Polar bear plunge this morning at 6:45am brought out the most kids we have had so far, to jump in the lake and start the day off with a brisk swim. I've meant to go to the polar bear plunge every week, but haven't until today. The rule this week is that if over half of your team plunges, you will earn 10 points. My team needed the points, so there I was, exhausted but with full spirit, jumping in the lake.

Last night, we had a 2 hour Olympic competition. We had 15 different events. Some events required the whole team to participate, and some events only needed one or two kids. Each event was a chance for teams to earn points towards the coveted Spirit Award. We had some obvious field games like three legged race, water balloon toss, egg on the spoon race, tug of war (little girls are stronger than they look, by the way!), a relay race, etc. We also had some REALLY fun events like the pie throwing contest, made even more fun because, "Geez, you know what? I forgot to make targets! Can I have all of the counselors come out here and stand in a line. If you can hit any of these counselors, you get points!". We also had an event that had each group passing a bucket full of noodles from person to person to see who could be the fastest team. Oh and I should mention that the noodles were dumped out of the bucket into their hands and they were covered in dish soap to make them slippery.

Throughout the whole event, Director Bonus Points were awarded for extra cheering, good sportsmanship, and spirit. It was an EXCEPTIONAL night. I think that kids and counselors, and I know myself, will remember the feeling of that night for a long time. And I firmly believe that when we talk about changing lives through camp, it is not because of activities or fancy facilities, but it is specifically due to the feeling. To be surrounded by such positive people, such strong energy, and such a focus on fun, happiness and encouragement, bathes your soul in a golden light that changes you. I believe these moments, that happen so often at camp, and so infrequently everywhere is, are the reason that camp is the best experience a person can have.

And that's the reason I do this job. Because last night was a LOT of work. To show up to a field full of games, an organized point system, and enjoy a night of fun required hours of preparation behind the scenes. And then last night, we had a list of 50 things (rope, eggs, spoons, bandannas, cups, noodles, hula hoops, cones, etc...) that we gathered and set up in about 30 minutes. It was me, S, ad my friend M who was visiting. It was intense and there were several times we looked at each other and shook our heads and said, "ohmygosh, I am so tired." Afterwards, there was a field full of noodles to clean up, dishes to wash and stuff to put away.

It was 100% worth it. Going above and beyond to plan, to make things special, to give kids a unique experience is what camp is all about. I am honored to be able to give that gift to them. And if it looks like it came together with little effort, that means I'm doing a good job. But OHMYGOSH, I am so tired I feel like I might collapse... in a good way... but still, collapse.

Re-Energized

It is Olympic Week at camp this week and we're having such a blast. The past two weeks, the staff and I have been trying really hard, but our exhaustion is apparent to me. I think all of our campers had a good time, and probably didn't notice, but compared to some of the first weeks, we definitely weren't as energetic. With just two weeks left, I have worried that they would be rough, and this week we have the second biggest group of campers of the summer, so I've been feeling anxious about this week.

On Sunday, I assigned each group a team color. Last night, they were each given big pieces of white fabric and asked to paint a flag, and also to come up with a team name and a team cheer. They were also given long white strips of fabric to make into headbands or arm bands with their team color on them.

Once the flags were painted, we lined all of the groups up, each kid carrying part of the flag, and processed from the dining hall, down the hill, around the field, in a circle, each group chanting and cheering, while the Olympic theme song BLARED from the speakers we'd set up. I explained the rules of the week, and the way they could earn points towards willing the prestigious Olympic spirit award, and then SHOUTED, "LET THE GAMES BEGIN!" The kids and counselors cheered and jumped around and then we went to the fire circle where each group presented their cheer.

I was SO excited to watch the kids so full of enthusiasm. You could literally feel the energy and it was powerful enough to make my heart beat harder and freeze a smile on my face. The cheers were creative and fun and everyone, kids and counselors, were completely lost in the moment. I was so happy to see counselors focused on kids and throwing themselves into camp.

Today, everywhere I go, I can hear kids SHOUTING their cheers. Everywhere they walk they sing and all of the kids are dressed in their team colors. The entire camp has an energized buzz to it. Kids are proud to be part of their teams, and they are completely lost in the magic of camp.

I am so proud of my staff for their ability to create such excitement. I know that when camp ends, I will ache to have just one more moment of pure, incomparable joy like so many days I have experienced this summer. For now, I am soaking it in and enjoying every second.

Cutest Camper Ever...

I know I'm not supposed to make judgements about kids I work with, because it's hard to treat kids equal and fairly if you have personal feelings toward them, but it happens. There is often the annoying camper or the sweet camper. I try REALLY hard not to be biased, and have gotten much better as I've gotten older, but yesterday, I met the CUTEST camper of all time.

Each week, we have a camp nurse that volunteers in exchange for a free week of camp. They usually come up on Sunday and bring their campers with them. Last night the camp nurse arrived with a TINY child. He's 7 but looks 4. But when he speaks he is very clear and sounds more like 7 year old.

As I took them on a tour and showed them around, he was SO excited. He had wide eyes and kept exclaiming, "this is so exciting!" and then he would throw his little fist in the air and say, "I'm the first camper of the week! This is so great!"

As we wind down and summer is coming to a close, it is difficult to maintain the energy I had in the beginning, but last night, listening to his excitement, I was re-energized and couldn't help be excited too. I think this is going to be a really great week and I'm bursting with eagerness for the campers to get here.

Day of Rest

Being a Camp Director is great... exhausting... but great. Here's the thing I don't think any of the staff seem to understand. While they are with kids constantly, sleeping in the same cabin and in activities all day, they also get breaks. They get an hour in the morning, an hour in the afternoon and one night per week off. They are also free from Saturday afternoon until Monday morning at 9am. They can do ANYTHING they want during these times. They can nap, leave camp, watch tv in the staff lounge... anything. I try VERY hard not to disturb their break times and rarely do. While I am not with kids 24 hours per day, I do not get breaks... ever. Not during the day, in the evenings, or on the weekend. Even in the middle of the night when I'm in bed sleeping, I am fair game to wake up when they have a homesick camper, the water heater breaks, the weather is bad...

Today, campers left at 12, we were done cleaning at 2pm. I have been busy ever since. Day of rest my ass. The hot water went out yesterday, which I learned at 11pm when two staff came into my room and woke me up 10 minutes after I'd gone to sleep. Then the ovens in the kitchen (same building that lost hot water) stopped working, and then the kitchen filled with a strong odor of gas... I was pretty sure the building was going to explode. Luckily, it was just that we ran out of propane, and so I was given the opportunity to learn how a LOT of important machinery and stuff at camp works. It took SEVERAL hours, but I am now well versed in pilot lights, propane tanks, and water heaters.

We also have LITs here this weekend, which is great for them, but means that I have been counselor/mediator/mentor/whatever else all day. There has been drama and crying all of the typical "I'm 15 and emotional" stuff, and I'm in the middle of all of it, working hard to resolve issues and make sure everyone is happy and cared for.

This is the most intense job I have ever had and I am blown away by the level of responsibility and enormous expectations placed on me. It is an honor to be here and have ownership over all of this, but it is overwhelming sometimes too.

8:08 on 8/8/08

Random brilliance: S and I had just finished setting up for the closing ceremony and were chatting as we waited for kids to finish evening prayer. The talent show went pretty fast tonight, so we knew we were ahead of schedule and needed to plan something.

"Hey! Today is 8/8/08! We should do something special!" -S
"It's 7:10pm right now, could we do something at 8:08?" -me

So right then and there we decided that at the end of the closing ceremony, we would take all of the kids outside, arrange them in a giant 8 and then take a photo from the balcony. So at 8:04pm, I was just finishing the closing ceremony and said, "WE HAVE TO DO SOMETHING AMAZING! IT'S NEVER GOING TO BE 8/8/08 AGAIN!"

The kids responded with a ROAR of excitement. One of those moments working with kids that I am blown away by their excitement and know I am experiencing pure magic and a memory int he making. I explain what we are going to do and tell them we have to hurry. Everyone JUMPS up, rushes outside and organizes themselves faster than they've ever done anything. We count down 10, 9, 8... until it is 8:08 pm exactly. Everyone jumps up and down and starts cheering.

Perfection.

At highs and lows tonight every Leader-in-Training says that the 8 thing was their high of the day. Such a random thing, no planning ahead, probably 6 minutes, start to finish, but it was unique, memorable, camp perfection.

The Handy Man

My dad is the caretaker at camp, and so far this summer has sort of been a behind the scenes guy. He fixes things when they break and works on projects like building fences, and shelves and stuff. I love having him here because he's dependable and can do almost anything.

This week, my dad has added "rockstar" to his list of duties. We have had an outbreak of bees. There are nests everywhere and kids getting stung every time I turn around. Every time a nest is discovered, my dad has been there to spray it and get rid of the bees. Apparently this is very heroic to the campers, because he has become almost mythical in his bee killing ability. Last night I heard, "he's a hero. He saved our lives from the bees." And today, when yet another nest was discovered, I heard one of the little boys yell, "WHERE'S THE HANDYMAN??"

When my dad isn't busy fixing or building something, or saving the camp from bees, he is talking someone's ear off about one of his many interests including panning for gold and searching for cool rocks. The kids know about the rock passion, and like to rush up to him in the dining hall with rocks they have found and ask if they are "good rocks". Almost every day campers will ask me where the handyman is because they have a rock to show him. It makes me laugh and it makes me happy. Part of a successful camp community is having beloved members of the staff. My dad has just enough charisma combined with an interesting job here at camp to become what legends are made of.

Staff Issues

I took C to the doctor, who told him that his shoulder was fine. Amazing how much better he felt after that... well, that is until he rolled his ankle and had to sit out of the dance last night. However, I will admit he did a very nice job of interacting with the campers that weren't dancing and he is working towards the goal I gave him of getting to know 20 kids this week. So I am not complaining about him. I have others to complain about.

The staff has divided into cliques and I am so crabby about it. I have been meeting with people individually this week and several people have told me they either feel left out or frustrated with other staff or are stressed out. It is so distracting from campers and I want to scream.

There are 7 people leaving camp for the weekend. One of my international staff is going home already (school starts for her on the 11th!), and two other people are going to take her to the airport and then go to a family function at one of their houses. They asked to be able to do this weeks ago and they will be riding the bus up to camp on Monday. It's a great situation because I don't have to worry about taking her to the airport and I have people to ride the bus on Monday.

There are 4 people who decided yesterday they want to go to the city and meet up with the old art director. I was fine with it, except that none of them have cars here, and three of them can't legally drive even if they had a car. Unfortunately this week, the bus is already full on Monday, which means they can ride down to the city tomorrow, but not back up to camp. The art director offered to drive them back, but I've already witnessed her dependability and forgive me for being skeptical, but I'm not thrilled with the idea. And in light of last weekend's events, I'm skeptical about their ability to be responsible.

So I met with them this morning and let them know they could go to the city, but I would be asking them to sign a contract agreeing to be back on time on Monday morning or they will be docked pay. I hate to be so strict and mean, but we have a BIG group of kids next week, and I will be the Executive Director, the Program Director, and the Art Director next week, so I don't have time to deal with any staff drama. I need to make sure they are here because I can't drive 6 hours round trip to get them. One of them asked, "what happens if we choose not to sign the contract." This is a 16 year old junior counselor who has been at camp as a camper for years, was close with the Boss and who has been trying to get into a power struggle with me all summer. Try again kid, I don't have time for nonsense.

I calmly explained that the contract is just something that shows me that they will be willing to take responsibility for themselves so that my mind can be at ease. I can't be short 4 staff on Monday, it just won't work. If he didn't want to sign the contract, that would say to me he isn't willing to be responsible for himself and perhaps camp is not the right place for him. I would be SO upset to lose another staff, but seriously, don't give me attitude. I'm not dealing with stupid stuff. You are expected to be back by 9am Mondays. Plan ahead, be professional and don't question me. Ugh, I'm so annoyed. And by a 16 year old junior staff. That's even more annoying. He's a kid. Quite honestly, he's not even technically old enough to be here for the full summer. Yet another situation that I have to deal with from the Boss.

I am so annoyed I could scream. I am trying really hard ot be patient and calm and have a sense of humor. But I literally want to rip someone's head off.

To Be 12 Again...

Scene- the weekly dance.

The awkward girl and the awkward boy who kept looking at each other at different times, and dancing near each other, but not with each other. She tied and re-tied her shoe about a million times, and then she finally got the nerve to ask him to dance, and his response, "um, like, I don't really want to dance right now, but maybe later." I watched the whole thing while grimacing, knowing it wasn't going to be a happy ending. Upon rejection, she crossed the dance floor and sat on the opposite side of the dining hall looking mortified. I went and sat with her for a few minutes, and was surprised by how excited she was at his response. "He said, 'maybe later'!" That was good enough for her. At 12 years old, I guess you're not looking for much.

Later, several of the Leaders-in-Training, who are 15 and 16 went over to her and asked her if she wanted to dance with them. It took some convincing, but she eventually joined them. So there she was, in a circle with all of the old, cool girls, dancing away. I wanted to hug all of them and thank them for including her, for making something in her 12 year old life easy. And then I wanted to pull 12 year old awkward girl aside and tell her to be confident, not to base her self esteem on what boys think of her, to learn to love herself and not to waste a bunch of time on boy drama because it's just not worth it. I wanted to tell her how happy she can be if she spends more time on herself and less time worrying about what boys think. I don't know think any of that would have made sense to her. I think you can talk to kids until you are blue in the face, but they have to learn things on their own. I wish I could spare them; I wish I could make it easy for them. But I know that these experiences are what will shape their lives. And sometimes my job is just to stand on the sidelines and watch because there's nothing else I can do.

Sick of Camp

I know that in September, I will be so sad that camp is over and I will miss my staff terribly. But right now, I'm pretty sick of about half of them. I totally get that they are tired and ready to be done. But seriously people, it's time to put your game faces on and be professional. Start doing your flipping job or my head is going to explode.

I think it is even more frustrating, because my really good staff are left to pick up the slack and compensate for the others. It is causing strife amongst them and I am trying to mediate. I am also trying to figure out a way to make sure my good staff are not feeling stressed out, but there's not much I can do. I'm in over my head, there's just far too much on my shoulders and it means that I have to ask people who were hired as counselors to take on a great deal of responsibility. They are doing well. S, S, A and C are outstanding. They take initiative and don't mind doing whatever needs to be done.

I have others that lead in different areas at different times, and I appreciate them for that. But there are some that are just not doing what they are supposed to do. It is frustrating.

Meanwhile, boy C has had a sore shoulder since he got to camp. He said he strained it carrying his luggage. Most of the time, he's fine. He can kayak, dance, play sports... However, whenever staff are asked to move tables, clean, carry anything, or really do anything he doesn't seem to be interested in, his shoulder really starts to hurt. I have been patient and given him other options. But it's REALLY selective pain. And ALL of the staff, myself included, are frustrated by his apparent laziness. Finally yesterday, when he was sitting on a bench, by himself, instead of playing the all-camp game, because the bouncing of the running hurt his shoulder, I decided I'd had it. I told him he needed to work with what he had and if he couldn't run, he would jog. If not jog, pick a slow kid and walk with the kid. I don't care, just DO SOMETHING.

Today I took him to the doctor who told him to ice it if it hurt, but otherwise he seemed fine. Yeah, I sorta already knew that... He's not a very good counselor to begin with, so this fake injury is particularly annoying. I want o yell at him every time I see him, so it takes a great deal of self talk to be patient and kind.

2 weeks and 2 days. I can make it. I really can.

Drama at Camp

The honeymoon period lasted such a long time that I really thought we would make it through the summer without any drama. Er, well, any personal drama. Anyone who's been reading knows I have daily camp drama. But no, we have a love triangle going on and it's causing some drama amongst the staff.

Girl E and Boy A were friends before camp. I questioned whether or not they were dating, but it was hard to tell, so I didn't think much of it. Really, I try to stay out of any staff stuff, I have too much to worry about here at camp without nonsense drama. But when information is freely given to me, I am not going to ignore it... So, anyway, they were friends/possibly more at the beginning of the summer.

But lately, Girl E has been looking a bit stressed out. Every time I talk to her she assures me everything is okay, but she still looks upset. Today, I was talking to a one of my favorite counselors Girl A and she let me know Girl E was stressed out because Boy A and G are now dating. News to me! No wonder she's stressed out.

So we have a love triangle situation. I really didn't expect it, but here it is. It doesn't really change much. It's not really affecting camp, all three have been really professional and quiet abotu it. Yes, I will be arranging breaks accordingly, because I don't have time for any of this romance nonsense, so yes, I will play God and make sure they are all separate as much as possible. But otherwise, I will stay out of it. They don't need to know that I know. But, for the record, I hear and see everything at my camp...

What The _ Were They Thinking?

Yesterday was a rough day. This is by far the most difficult job I've ever had. Thank goodness for my mom and my best friend who let me vent and cry for hours on the phone. I don't know if I've had a happy conversation with either of them in the last week, which I feel bad about because 99% of the time I'm happy and loving my job, but that other 1% is awful. And without anyone else here as management, I can only vent to them. I am ready to go home and not be responsible for other people 24/7.

So this week, several counselors started the, "let's throw people in the lake" phase of the summer. At our staff debrief, I let them know I as cool with pranks as long as the kids aren't here. So this weekend was free. I didn't add, "don't destroy anything" and "make good choices" because I sort of assumed that was a given.

Never assume.

So some of the girls who'd been thrown in the lake decided to get back at the boys. Good plan. They decided to wake them up early this morning by throwing buckets of water on them. Unfortunately, the boys weren't in their cabin, they had fallen asleep in the staff lounge. The boys cabin has wood floors and plastic mattresses. The staff lounge has fabric couches. I would assume that since they were on the fabric couches, the plan would have changed.

Never assume.

On my one day off to sleep in, I was woken up at 5am by screams and running. At 6am, I had three wide awake counselors knocking on my door, letting me know the basement was all wet. I told them that unless someone was bleeding they needed to get out of my room and let me sleep. At 8am, I got up, went downstairs and was absolutely shocked to see soaking wet couches and standing water on the floor.

Oh no, they did not.

Yes, they did. I passed the word that there would be a meeting at 10:30 and then answered the ringing phone. It was out cleaning lady (she cleans the 10 bathrooms every weekend). She decided she didn't really want to do this job anymore and wouldn't be coming.

I spent the next 2 hours calming myself down so I would scream at the staff. I wrote notes of what I wanted to say... Well, actually, what I wanted to say was, "what the F were you thinking?" but I didn't write that. And then at 10:30 I calmly explained that I was disappointed by their bad choice and that we needed to clarify some expectations for behavior. I also gave instructions on how to better dry out a couch and the direction that it needed to be taken care of immediately. Then I let them know that even though they were all planning to leave right then to go to J's parent's cabin for the day, instead, they would be helping me clean bathrooms for the next hour. And yes, there was a small piece of me that enjoyed giving that bad news to them since I was still quite annoyed at the puppet show from that morning. But actually, it was necessary, because it took the whole group an hour to clean bathrooms and it would have taken me all day. So it was much more practical than me just being vindictive.

After we cleaned, they all got ready to enjoy a day on the lake, grilling and having fun. I really wanted to go and was super bummed to stay back, but one of our board members is here for the weekend, and I didn't feel like it was appropriate to leave her all day. Plus, the camp nurse always arrives Sunday night, and I didn't think we would be back in time to greet him. It would be really inappropriate to let our volunteer just roam around while I was nowhere to be found. So I had no choice. But it still made me unhappy. I am sick of being the adult here. I'm sick of being the one to enforce rules and give bad news and miss out on the fun. I am sick of being responsible for every person and every building and everything in sight, every minute of every day, including the hours I am sleeping/being woken up. Meanwhile, my boss, well, former boss actually, is busy enjoying rehab and not dealing with the budget he messed up, whining parents and maintenance issues. If I have the opportunity to see him again, I am quite sure I will have no words, but will just go up to him and shake him really hard, and ask him what the F he was thinking. But until then, I am literally 100% responsible for every single aspect of this camp by MYSELF. Which makes me wonder what the F was I thinking when I took this on???

Salad Dressing Continued...

So what was my costume for the Salad Dressing party?

...House Dressing...

Tough to dance in, but totally original.

Salad Dressing

A few days ago, S and I had the brilliant idea to plan a dance party for the weekend. First, we decided on a theme- Salad Dressing. The idea is that everyone would come dressed as their favorite dressing. So if your favorite is ranch, you might dress in a cowboy hat and cowboy boots. If you love Caesar, you might come in a toga.. You get the idea.


Next, we crafted some fabulous invitations, cut in a bowl shape and complete with tissue paper lettuce, details on the back. We handed them out and then everyone spent time on Saturday afternoon, after campers had left, creating their perfect outfit. Most people spent some time googling salad dressing first, which I found to be funny, yet resourceful.


For our party, we made a variety of salad appetizers (taco salad, snicker salad, fruit salad, etc.), we also had a great playlist of dance music and the big speakers hooked up to blast the music. The party was B.Y.O.B. which, in this case, refered to, "bring your own bowl". We filled the drama building with decorations, and then waited for everyone to arrive, which was the best part of the night because we got to see each other's costumes and hear the explanations. This is the perfect kind of party to do with camp staff, because they are the most creative people alive.


C dressed as honey mustard, which included a tall yellow cone shaped hat (like the top of mustard) and a black shirt with yellow stripes pinned on (like a bee). S was poppy seed, so she made a giant poppy flower out of tissue paper, which she pinned all around herself and then made bracelets and anklets out of paper and birdseed. My favorite costume of the night was K, who dressed in an olive colored shirt and had made wide belt to go around his waist with a red circle crossed out to make a "no" symbol. He was extra virgin olive oil.


We danced, ate, hung out and had a blast. It was a great night at camp!

Homesickness

I went to overnight camp twice when I was a kid. I cried hysterically both times. I was the kid who was inconsolable, didn't want to do any activities, called my parents crying, and spent a lot of time in the health center for a lot of nonexistent ailments. I was not "most likely to be a Camp Director" when I grew up.


I think my past as a homesick camper makes me a better Camp Director, or at least more empathetic. I completely understand how kids feel and I am very patient with them, because I totally feel their pain. We have one or two every week (sometimes a few more than that). Sometimes it's just a moment or day of homesickness, sometimes it is the whole week.


This week I have one special friend who has been homesick since he arrived. It is his third year at camp, and his brother and twin sister are here too. I wouldn't expect a kid with those things going for him to be homesick, but then again, I cried at day camp, so I should be so quick to judge.


Monday night was rough. He tried to climb in bed with his counselor, and pretty much stayed up the whole night. Tuesday morning, he was hysterical and adamant that he wanted to go home NOW. I gave him the same talk I give every homesick kid, starting out with, "we can call your parents but only once you've tried XYZ (depending on the day, time, kid, etc.)." I do my best to distract them, take their mind off home, and then give them a plan for when they get homesick. For this kid, I asked if he would draw his parents a picture of himself doing his favorite camp activity. That idea then ballooned into creating a whole book of drawings. I told him every time he felt homesick, he could come to my office and work on his book. Usually break times, right before or after meals and right before bed are the hardest times, so this gives him something to do during those times.

So he has been coming in for short, sometimes only 5 or 10 minutes to work on his project. He hasn't cried at all since we came up with it, and I heard from his counselor that he was very excited about the book he was creating with the Director's help. I didn't realize I had such star power, but whatever it takes, right?

Now he checks in with me on a regular basis. When I saw him playing capture the flag yesterday, he ran by and yelled, "I'm having a great time!" and today after breakfast, he said, "I'm having fun, but can I work on my book?" So we are buddies and he has paper and markers waiting for him on the spare desk in my office, so he can come in whenever he wants. I am confident he will make it through the week and maybe even grow up and become a Camp Director some day.

Tree Growth 101

My dad and I are building one of those cool sign posts with a bunch of arrows pointing in different directions, leading to all of the buildings at camp (as well as a "you are here" arrow facing down, and "heaven" arrow facing up).

Yesterday, my dad chopped down a 12 foot pine tree, cleaned all of the branches and bark off of it and then dug a deep hole to put it into the ground. It was a fascinating process for both kids and counselors, and as he dug the hole, he had a large crowd around him.

Now the pole is in the ground and S, C and I have been painting the arrow signs. Many kids and staff wanted to know what the pole was about, and being sarcastic, I said, "we are trying to re-plant this tree." All of the kids rolled their eyes and laughed and asked, "no really, what are you doing with it?"

Not the Assistant Program Director D. This was our conversation:

"What's the deal with the pole?" -D

"I'm trying to transplant this tree. I'm hoping it will begin to grow." -me

"Really? Can you do that?" -D

"Yeah, I think so. I think it will be nice to add some shade to this area." -me

"Yeah, you're right, this would be a nice place for a tree." -D

Then he walked away. J and I were standing together, dumbfounded and laughing. No way is he being serious. He's a 4th grade teacher during the year, he can't possibly believe it. He's joking right?!?

But later, D went up to my dad and wished him luck on the tree project. My dad didn't know what he was talking about and when I explained it to him, he fell over laughing.

Later, C and I were standing near the "tree" and D came back. "How often do you have to water it?" he asked. "Um, I'm not sure. I think my dad is taking care of it." -me

I think he's actually serious. And that just makes me feel bad for my sarcasm. I really thought he'd know I was kidding though. This morning, my dad dragged the hose over to it and set a box of Miracle Grow next to it. Now all of the counselors are in on it and we're waiting for D to figure it out. Deep down, I think he's the one playing me. He must be!

Except that right before lunch, J asked D if he could help him figure out the Miracle Grow instructions, and they were both out there, dumping Miracle Grow on the "tree" and D stood out there hosing it down for a LONG time. Again, I feel like the meanest person ever, but I also think it's hilarious.

D has a pretty good sense of humor and I think he will laugh when it finally occurs to him that you can't re-grow a tree that has been chainsawed off and cleared of all branches and bark. I hope he laughs...

Ambushed

"The floating dock has floated away. Can you tell S and J to come down and get it back?" -L
"Sure." -me (but I didn't move immediately)
"It's urgent, can you do it now?" -L

So I jump up, and run out of my office, grab S and J and we head down to the beach. No one is there, and the floating dock seems to be in the right place.

"What was L talking about, it's fine..." -me
Which was the moment that 6 counselors jumped out of the bushes, grabbed S by the arms and legs and carried her, screaming, to the dock to throw her in.

That was also the moment I took off running, as fast as I could back towards my office. Except that I wasn't fast enough and also got picked up by the arms and legs, carried to the dock and thrown in. They had the decency to pat me down for a cell phone and take that out of my pocket first.

After spending all morning on the phone and answering emails, a little excitement wasn't completely unwelcome. That being said, IT'S ON. I will get revenge and it will be more creative. Just another typical day at the office...

Lice

Monday at camp, kids arrive, meet their counselors, move into cabins, eat lunch, and then spend 4 hours touring through camp. The go to each program area and do activities, and they go to the health center where the nurse asks about medication and checks for lice.

The lice policy is this: if a kid has lice, they have to go home. It is too difficult for us to treat and not fair to the kid to be quarantined the whole time he or she is here. Lice can happen to any kids, not just "dirty kids" or whatever the stereotype is. It is just one of those things that happens sometimes. It's no fun and kind of embarrassing, but it's not a big deal. Lice doesn't spread as easily as you think, and lice can't live very long when it's not on a person's head. That being said, we can't deal with it here, so kids have to go home.

Yesterday a kid had lice. It was a tough call. She really just had lice eggs, and her head wasn't itching yet. The nurse and I were fairly confident it was lice, but it made it difficult since she wasn't itching. Adding to the difficulty was that the kid is in a foreign exchange program from Ireland and this is her last week in America. If she had to leave camp, it wouldn't be the fun last week she'd expected.

I called the parents and they were surprised and not exactly happy to have to drive all the way up north, but when they arrived 3 hours later, they were the nicest, calmest people I've ever dealt with. They brought lice treatment with them and shampooed her right in the health center. They took her home and this morning, treated her again so that she could return this evening. They drove her all the way back up to camp today, meaning that those parents drove 3 hours, dropped the kids off, 3 hours home. 3 hours to pick her up, 3 hours home. 3 hours to drop her back off at camp, three hours home. All of that within 24 hours. Like I said, they were nice people.

When she got back today, her head was clear of lice and she was excited to be back. But she was stressed out that her cabin mates would think she was dirty or make fun of her. So I did what you sometimes have to do with kids and I lied. I said she was feeling sick and had been in the health center the whole time. They didn't even question it and they were glad her "stomach" felt better and laughed at the silly rumor about her going all the way home. Whew.

My entire body has itched since the moment I found out she had lice, but I think it's psychological, so all is well. It ended in the best possible scenario (happy, lice-free kid, happy parents, lice-free camp, happy Director). Hopefully no more lice for the rest of the summer.

Weekend

When I was interviewing for this job in November, my only concern was whether I could take time off in July for my best friend's wedding. The Boss said "no problem" and so I've been planning on taking the week off for a long time. When the Boss was fired, my number one concern (even bigger than single handedly running a camp) was taking time off for the wedding. I didn't take the whole week off- I was only gone Wednesday at noon-Sunday night, but it felt like a long time. It's not that I don't trust or believe in my staff, I just know that every single problem or issue is something I will have to handle and so I want to be there as they arise.

Everything went really smoothly and life was good the whole time I was gone. It was CSI week, and so on Monday at dinner, before kids went to the evening activity, the Assistant Program Director got up and started yelling about a crime being committed and every counselor being a suspect. I think kids were a little taken off guard because he seemed mad, but the counselors were smiling, and when he announced that "A RIGGA BAM BOO" had been stolen, kids caught on.

"A RIGGA BAM BOO" is something from a silly camp song. It doesn't actually have a definition, just that it's "red and gold and purple too". One of my staff had made up an elaborate scenario, set up a crime scene and then gave an alibi and several key facts to each staff. Kids were given evidence sheets to record findings on and they had to question suspects. It was wonderfully creative and fun and even the older kids got really into it. I was actually really sad to leave midway through the week because I was really enjoying the whole activity.

But I left, because it's the most important thing in my best friend's life and I wanted to be there to be her sidekick. So I spent Wednesday-Saturday at her side. I helped her finish last minute projects, calmed her down when her mom said things that upset her, made flower arrangements for tables, went to the rehearsal and groom's dinner, and then spent Saturday at the best wedding ever. I probably have to say that as the best friend, but I really mean it, it was picturesque. She was gorgeous, the classic bride. Everything went smoothly. The food and the cake were DELICIOUS. The dance was a blast. The weather was perfect... I could go on... I loved every minute of it.

On Sunday, I went to her parent's house for the gift opening and was planning to drive back to camp from there. I didn't pack my stuff, so after a tearful goodbye (she started to cry when I left and then her parents started to cry, telling me I was a second daughter, and I was thinking, dude, if I start crying, you are never going to get rid of me, I gotta get out of here fast! But it was very sweet. After all the time we've spent planning, I really do feel like part of the family), I went home.

I meant to pack and leave by 1pm. I didn't actually leave until 7:30pm. When I got home, my roommates were laying on the couch watching tivo-ed episodes of Law and Order. I know that doesn't sound exciting, but it looked so relaxing, I was SO jealous. I haven't laid on the couch and watched mindless tv for MONTHS! So I joined them. Then I took a nap. In the middle of the day... it was glorious... then I woke up and we went to our favorite homemade ice cream parlor down the street. And then I watched more tv. And then my brother grilled really good steak... And the whole time I was thinking, UGH! I don't want to go back to dirty camp where there are problems to deal with and no time to rest. I live a double life and while both parts are wonderful, sometimes transitioning between the two can be difficult.

I love living in the city. I love peace-loving, hippie run coffee shops that serve free trade coffee. I love home cooked organic food, chinese delivery, expensive but amazing pizza delivery, cable tv, my comfortable pretty house, quiet and calm, no one needing me.... I enjoyed all of that this weekend and it was difficult to leave it.

But I also love camp. I love living in the woods on the edge of a lake. I love pulling up to the fading sun and having literally my entire staff rush over to me, genuinely excited to see me, saying, "you're back!!!!!!!" and then telling me all of the great things I missed while sincerely asking how the wedding was. I love the nonstop activity and the privilege of being responsible for everything and everyone. I am very blessed, and I am well aware of how much I have. Life is good.

First (and hopefully ONLY)

I took my first (and hopefully ONLY) trip to the emergency room of the summer last night.

Whenever parents call me to ask about safety, and they fret about archery or swimming or any of the other programming, I always secretly roll my eyes. It's not that they shouldn't worry about safety, I understand the concern, it's just that those aren't the places kids get hurt. Kids get hurt one of two ways: running or messing around. Last night, it was running.

A girl (C) was running away from a counselor while playing freeze tag, tripped, landed wrong, and broke her collarbone. Kids fall every day, usually they bounce back up, every now and then, they don't. I don't mean to be so casual about it, safety is my FIRST and MAIN priority every minute of every day, but I'm not going to freak out about something that was not preventable and where no one did anything wrong. It was just one of those things that sometimes happens when kids are doing anything more than sitting.

I called her parents and let them know "everything is fine, C is fine. I will let you talk to her in just a minute, but she did have a small accident and we will be taking her to the emergency room." They were super calm, she was calm and then I took her to the emergency room. They X-rayed her, put her in a sling, gave her some pain medication and we were set. She doesn't want to change her activities, and she is ABSOLUTELY going on the overnight trip with her group. Awesome, that makes it easy for me.

It is never good when a kid gets hurt, but overall, this went as smooth as a situation like this can go. Hopefully it's the only one of the summer.

Weekend of Fun

Optional Fun Field Trip #2:

Because Camp is in Small Town Up North, which I do not consider to be an adequate representation of American culture, I try to plan fun things outside of Camp for our staff (6 of whom are international). Plus, international or not, we all need to leave Camp every now and then for our sanity. So this past weekend, we had a lovely trip into the Big City.

After the campers left on Saturday, we piled into a 15 passenger van and headed South. We drove straight to a large mall, where staff spent the evening shopping, eating, watching movies and relaxing. Originally, I'd planned to do the same, but the mall is so close to my house that I decided to just drop them off, go buy groceries, and hang out at home for a few hours of relaxing on my couch. Plus, all of them were staying at my house, and since I haven't been home for a while, I wanted to make sure it looked presentable.

Good thing I decided to stop home. First of all, the road construction was out of control, so I was lost for 45 minutes. Frustrating, but good to map out before they got into the van with me. When I got home, I realized that I forgot my keys. They are with my car keys, and since I didn't drive, I forgot them. No problem, I hid a spare key on my porch in case I ever made the mistake of forgetting my keys. I am so smart and resourceful like that. But when I went for the key, it wasn't there... hmmm....

Both roommates were out of town, but H still had her phone on her (Because on the 5th call, she finally answered). She let me know when she'd been home alone she moved it because it was too scary to have it out there. I had to try really hard not to freak out on her, because well, GROW UP! I have too much responsibility on me, too much going on and not nearly enough time in my day for things like, "I was scared." Um, maybe grow up a little bit and be an adult. I don't have time for this. I own the fact that I made a mistake forgetting the keys, but the brilliant part of the plan is that I had a backup plan for myself in case that ever happened.

My dad was out of town, my mom wasn't answering her phone, my grandma and aunt didn't know where my mom was, my best friend didn't answer her phone, none of my windows were unlocked, and so I sat on my porch and had a meltdown because I was all alone and I couldn't get into my house. Also none, not one, of my windows are ground level, meaning that even if I wanted to break one of them, crawling inside would be tough. Nice to know that someone would really have to work to break in, but not comforting at the time.

Finally my mom called me back. She was an hour and a half away, but offered to come rescue me. When I bought the house in October, my mom repeatedly demanded a key until I finally gave in. Thank goodness for mothers. She is smarter than me and I so thankful because she is not only smart, she is very kind. I felt terrible asking her to drive all the way to my house, but I also had 11 staff coming in 2 hours, and I didn't want them to see me crying on my porch. So I went to the grocery store and bought food for breakfast and lunch the next day, and then sat on my porch, eating grocery store sushi until my mom came to let me in.

Later, I went back to the mall, picked up the staff and brought them home. I'm not sure if they were expecting a cardboard box, or what, but they were so funny when they walked in. "You left THIS for camp? You must love your job!" I have worked hard on my house, so it was nice to hear they thought it was pretty. I took them on a tour and they looked at every photo album and in every closet. They sat on every chair and jumped in my bed. It was sort of like showing a group of puppies around, but it was nice too. After the tour, they changed into pajamas, tossed their sleeping bags on the floor and settled in for movies, snacks and sleep.

On Sunday morning, I woke up early and made about 50 pancakes. I don't know why I didn't just buy cereal, but no, I made blueberry, chocolate chip and plain batches of pancakes. Camp Directors don't do things the easy way, we do them the fun way. Before I started cooking, I had to run to the grocery store for more milk, and when I was leaving, I ran into a board member. He asked what I was up to and then commented, "I bet you don't get home very often." Um... duh... How long have you been on the board?... But he offered to cut my grass or help take care of my house while I was gone, which was a very kind gesture. I thanked him and told him my roommates would probably appreciate it, but no thanks.

After breakfast, we went to the Science Museum. Some of the staff had questioned the field trip choice, thinking it would be lame, but it is a very cool museum, and I think everyone had a blast, despite the initial hesitation. After the museum, we returned to my house for a BBQ and some backyard games. My best friend, her fiance and my brother had all come to the museum with me and were there for the BBQ. It was nice to spend time with them, although it made me really homesick. I have not sat out in the sun, or just relaxed at all this summer. Even fun things, like field trips, require a lot of responsibility on my part, and I'm getting tired. I want to just chillin my backyard, soaking up the sun. I have such a wonderful staff and a great job that I love, but I miss home, my roommates, friends, and I miss being carefree.

In the late afternoon, we drove back to camp, stopping at Target to load up on bug spray and candy and random things staff needed. We got back to camp and I crashed into bed almost immediately. I'm struggling a little bit this week because I am leaving camp on Wednesday morning for the wedding, so I'm feeling a bit detached. I just want to go back home, hang out with X, and not think about all of the details of each day for a while. I'm trying to be focused on kids and staff and camp details, but I'm ready for the wedding stuff to start. Soon...

No Lows

What an amazing week! At the end of every week, after campers have left, we have a staff meeting to de-brief and I always ask everyone to go over their highs and their lows of the week. It is a good way to reflect, wrap things up, bring up issues and gain closure so that they can move forward to the next week. Today for highs and lows, everyone had several highs and almost everyone said, "no lows this week". It was just that great.

Everything went according to schedule, everyone did what they were supposed to do, kids were respectful listeners, counselors had giant grins on their faces, very few campers were homesick, no one got hurt, I didn't have any behavior problems to deal with, boats didn't break down, and I spent the majority of the time outside, laughing with kids, being part of activities and loving every minute of my life. I was too busy to write, too busy to worry.

On Wednesday night, I drove home for a early Board meeting on Thursday morning. The meeting was to touch base since the Boss left, etc. On par with my week, it was FANTASTIC! The Board had a lot of wonderful things to say to me and were extremely supportive. I got to talk all about camp and how great things are, we talked about the Capital Campaign that is beginning in September, the future of camp, and after the meeting, I got to talk to about 6 people, one on one, who wanted to tell me good things and tell me how great I am. It was awesome.

After the meeting, I went with my best friend X to her final dress fitting for her wedding dress. It was a fabulous coincidence that the fitting and the meeting were coordinated, and I was THRILLED to be able to be there for her.

When I got back to camp on Thursday, every single person, camper and staff, greeted me with big smiles and "YOU'RE BACK!!! We missed you!" They were so genuine and sweet and it made me feel so good.

On Thursday night, we had a dance, which is always the highlight of the week. Except, this week, we decided to go a little crazy, and we held the dance on the field outside. We laid down 10 big tarps, covered them in dish soap and then sprayed them with a hose to make the most bubbly, sudsy, mess of fun we could imagine. Kids got to dance on the "dance floor" with bare feet, covered in suds. It was not slippery, kids thought it was awesome, and all of the staff had a blast! Yeah for creativity and giving kids once in a lifetime experiences.

Last night, we also tried something new for the closing ceremony. Prior to the ceremony, S and C made "fuzzies" which are yarn balls at the end of a string. Each person got one and then got to pull it apart, giving small string to people who were nice to them or they wanted to thank for something throughout the week and then tie it on their string. At the end, the string that your fuzzy had been at the end of was covered in small strings, representing all of the great connections of the week. It was a new idea and I wasn't sure how it would work. But at the end of it, I had about 25 strings, had been told by several counselors I was the best boss they've ever had, and been told by several campers that they appreciated my hard work. Kids were crying and hugging (sometimes crying is good and this time it was), and I was thrilled because everyone had a lot of strings, and seemed truly moved by the activity.

It was a wonderful week and a nice way to recover from last week. And now it's the weekend and I'm relaxing!

Chillin'

We are having such a relaxed week. Compared to the train wreck that was last week, I feel like I'm on vacation. We only have 40 kids here this week, and I'm pretty sure they are all of the "students of the week" from every school they are from. I don't like to make generalizations, but every kid here is a good listener, respectful, follows directions, enjoys camp, doesn't complain, has a good attitude... Maybe I should be careful not to jinx myself, but it's been easy and fun.

I have spent a lot of my time either in my office catching up on important work I haven't been able to do, or chillin' with kids and staff. I've had a lot of time to go to the different activity areas, sit and chat with kids, and just generally enjoy camp.

So that's what I'm doing. I'm getting paid to hang outside, play, laugh and sit around soaking up the sun. Life is so god, so easy. I'm off to the art building for some crafting....

Late Night Shower

1:30am- "um, N, I have a sick camper." -K (outside of my bedroom door)

My eyes flew open and I was dressed and out of bed in seconds. I have become a light sleeper and really quick to react upon immediate waking.

Why don't kids get sick mid-day?

Why do counselors walk right in front of the Health Center, past the Health Center containing the nurse, and to my door?

I don't know, but that's all part of my glorious job.

Stomachache.

I gave the camper some crackers and water, and asked him the standard questions- if he'd eaten dinner, needed to throw up or go to the bathroom and if he'd ever been to camp before (answer: no= most likely this is homesickness). Distraction and crackers didn't seem to cure him, so I decided to go wake up the nurse.

The Health Center is 25 yards (tops) from my house. Between the 1 minute it took to walk there and the 4 minutes Counselor K and I were inside and decided sick camper would stay overnight, the sky opened up and the rain began POURING down. The BIG FAT raindrops that splat when they hit, blowing wind, mixed with tiny, fast raindrops that rapidly prick your skin- all of that.

Two choices: Tell K to have a nice walk back across camp to the boys cabins (which are as far away from my house as you can get) and RUN to my house... OR... RUN to my house with K, pick up the golf cart, drive him across camp in the POURING rain, and then drive back to my house.

I think K felt bad for waking me up and he said, "no, you don't have to drive me." But I did, telling him, "No worries, I was going to take a shower in 5 hours anyway, now this will save me some time in the morning."

And you know what? I skipped the shower this morning. Ah camp!

Another One Bites the Dust

The Art Director quit today. She was the one who's crazy mother has been calling and who's had a terrible attitude for weeks. I told her I was disappointed in her, but, if I'm being honest, I'm glad she's gone. She yelled at kids and she was CONSTANTLY chatting with counselors when she should have been with kids.

She was in charge of art, but has said, at least 10 times, "I don't really like arts and crafts that much." Last year, there were 5 Program Staff. Program Staff didn't have to stay in cabins with kids and they had a lot of freedom. She very much wanted to be a Program Staff. Unfortunately, before I even started here, the Boss decided to eliminate Program Staff positions, and then there were budget cuts and we lost several counselors, so we have been short staffed all summer. So she came into the summer thinking her position was going to be like the staff last year, and that just wasn't the case this year.

Over and over, I repeat to the staff, "we're here for the kids." We do whatever we have to do for the good of the kids. I don't think she was here for the kids. So I'm glad she's gone.

I asked the staff if anyone was interested in the Art Director position. One of my favorite staff, C, who loves art and kids and camp, and who I was going to appoint to the position anyway, came to me right away and asked if she could apply. Hired. Problem solved.

I learned later, from another staff, that C had wanted the job last year, but J had also wanted it. If this is any indication of the Boss's hiring system, he hired the girl who was less qualified, but made the biggest fuss. Ugh, I am annoyed at him everyday, but I'm dealing with it.

It is a very small group this week and the entire camp is calmer and more chill. Negativity gone, and I'm feeling wonderful today!

Supervisor

I realize that as the supervisor, I have to have "thick skin" because I will always be the person who has to enforce rules and give bad news and say, "no, I don't think that is a good idea." I will not always be popular and it's okay, because if I am fair and consistent, and making choices for the good of the camp, I will still be respected and liked, and the camp community will be happy.

That being said, between the angry staff mother who called me "Hitler", her daughter that glares at me constantly, the hateful camp nurse who considered me to be unqualified and stupid, the naughty kids who had to sit in my office hating me, and the constant problems that I couldn't seem to stop from happening, I have to admit, it's been difficult to remain confident in myself and not feel like a terrible person.

The Assistant Program Director is the closest thing I have to a peer. He's a great guy, but we aren't close and because he is older than me, I often feel like he thinks I'm an idiot too. The Board President is very supportive, but he is a volunteer and not interested in day to day, "this staff hates me, let me vent about her" kinda stuff. I have wonderful supportive staff around me, but it is not appropriate to vent to them about other staff or confidential issues that are going on. My mom is a wonderful source of support because she gives great advice about managing staff and professionalism. My best friend X is my rock, because I can call her at 11pm and rant and rave for 45 minutes straight, repeating myself, not making sense and not letting her get a word in edgewise, and she patiently listens until I calm down. My close friend M is also a Camp Director and she often calls me for advice or to vent, and while she thinks she is doing it for her own benefit, it helps me more than anything to know that other people in this position are having similar experiences and feelings. But at camp, I am on my own. And sometimes, at the end of the day, it's lonely and exhausting.

Which is why, after a long, difficult week, last night made me feel immediately better. There are only nine staff here this weekend, and all of them decided to go out to dinner and bowling last night. I have 12 Leaders in Training here this weekend, so I stayed back with them. I spend the evening with the LITs and felt fine going to bed at 11:30pm, even though they were still awake and hanging out. At 1:30am, I heard a knock at my door and then my light was flipped on and a crowd of people came into my room. I thought it was the LITs, so I was a little panicked because I assumed something bad had happened. No, it was my nine staff who had just returned from their night out. Five of them sat down on my bed and the other four circled around me.

They spent the next 15 minutes telling me all about their adventure which started with dinner, bowling, and then several random stops along the way, including seeing a shed on fire, calling 911 and waking the family that owned the house (I wondered why they all smelled like camp fire). They'd had a blast, and were so bursting with excitement that they couldn't wait until the morning to tell me about it. They wouldn't have had to tell me anything at all, and I was happy that they wanted to include me enough to come in immediately. It was a good reminder that I'm doing a good job because the staff like me enough to share their excitement. And even though I was deliriously tired, it was the absolute best thing to help me feel refreshed and ready to take on another week.

Just A Camp Director

Campers are not allowed to have electronic devices at camp. We have this rule because things get broken, lost or sometimes disappear when you have a group of kids together. The best solution is prevention. Each week we have a volunteer nurse. Licensed nurses can sign up to volunteer and in return, they get a free week of camp for one child. This week, our nurse was T and her son brought his iPod with him. His counselor didn't take it from him when he found out about it, which was a mistake, but also, T didn't take it from him either. Tuesday, the iPod disappeared. Not shocking, if I'm being honest. We have great kids here at camp, but even great kids, who know the rules and right from wrong sometimes make mistakes. It's all part of being a kid.

The counselor talked to the group about it and even went through everyone's things. It was done in a respectful way. He let the kids know that sometimes things get lost and fall into other people's things. Searching through personal belongings is a fairly drastic act, but I think it was handled well.

The iPod didn't show up. We asked the whole camp to look for it, and eventually, one of the older girls came to let me know a camper (one of the three that I'd had trouble with and then won over) had asked her how he would charge it.

So I took him aside and talked about the importance of honesty and respect and that if he "found it" when he was packing, it would be really great and no questions would be asked. I wasn't going to yell at him or threaten him or accuse him. He's not a criminal, he's a nine year old kid. And while he was a pretty good suspect, I also didn't have any proof. I knew that if I planted the seed, he would eventually decide to make the right choice. And if he didn't, he would eventually think about the situation and I firmly believe, he would learn from it and be affected. Also, the kid who lost the iPod will learn an important lesson about responsibility and following the rules. A difficult lesson? Of course, but that's the way life is. Sometimes bad things happen to us, and we have to deal with it.

Later, the counselor had another talk with the campers and laid it on pretty thick about how police can be involved and it's expensive and awful, etc. Late in the evening, I had a knock at the door, and the suspected child seemed to think someone might have "framed" his sister (the kid I drove home the day before) and he was really worried about her. I told him I appreciated his concern and that he made a good choice in talking to us about it. See, kids eventually get to the right choice. The nuns in charge of sending this group of kids were supportive and plan to work with the family and try to recover the iPod. It's not back yet, but it's the best I can do. Also, I think the kids involved learned a good lesson.

This was not a satisfactory answer to the nurse. She went from being the biggest cheerleader of this camp to a full on witch like I've never experienced. She started out politely suggesting that I give her the names of all of the kids who'd been accused of possibly taking the iPod and she could call her friend, the chief of police of a big city, and he could go to all of their homes and investigate... No, I am not kidding about that... I politely let her know I couldn't provide any personal information about our campers to her. I also reminded her that the only evidence we had were a few random "um, I think maybe's" from a nine year old boy.

She then went on to suggest we call the police in this town and have them search all of the kids at camp... No, I am not kidding... I politely let her know that was not an option I would consider. And that was the point that she got HOSTILE and let me know that I am "just a Camp Director" and she didn't think I was handling the situation in a satisfactory way. Just a Camp Director, huh? I told her I was sorry she felt that way, but it was my job to protect the campers, all campers, and that I didn't think they would really respond well to having a police officer search their belongings. Also, because they are KIDS, I didn't think the parents would respond well to their children being searched without them.

At that point, she calmed down slightly and, genuinely surprised, said, "oh, I guess I didn't think of it that way." I said, "I know I am just a Camp Director, but I do know what I am doing, and that my job is the safety of campers. And if you could just step back for a second and think of this from the perspective of one of the parents who I would have to send out a letter explaining how their kids had been searched by an officer, and how mad you would be." What I didn't add to my calm, patient explanation, was "I've been working with kids longer than you've been a parent, and I'm going to attack you in about 3 seconds if you don't back off. JUST A CAMP DIRECTOR! I am single handedly running this camp and I'm doing a DAMN GOOD JOB. And I'm sorry your spoiled rotten, overindulged kid got his iPod stolen, but too bad. I bet he'll be more responsible later. And meanwhile, you are not going to frighten and threaten any of these kids, regardless if they did it or not, because I might JUST BE A CAMP DIRECTOR, but I know enough to take care of the kids I am responsible for."

I don't know if I have ever felt more insulted, or more appalled by a suggestion than I was during that conversation. But I'm still mad as I type this.

In the end of the conversation, she decided to file a police report for insurance purposes. Fine. The one officer in Small Town was unable to come out last night at 11pm when she called him. He agreed to come out early this morning, before parents came for parent day. Fine.

So this morning I met with the officer and let him know that a kid and his sister had been accused and possibly done it, but I didn't have any proof, so there wasn't much I was going to do about it. He asked me for a few details, including their ages, and when I told him 9 and 7, he smiled slightly and said, "Oh, um, I thought we were dealing with teenagers. I can't do anything if they are under 10." Duh. He was going to have to handcuff me to get to those kids anyway, so thank goodness.

That was the point that this situation turned from insulting and unpleasant, to so absolutely ugly.

"In 40 years of working in public health, I've learned about people, and these are the kind of kids who are bad. They steal, they are going to end up in prison. Have you heard them talking? They are from bad families. They misbehave so badly they shouldn't even be here." -Nurse

"Some of these kids come from different backgrounds, and some had some behavior issues, but I believe I addressed them this week. They were all listening and following directions by the end of the week. All kids make mistakes and steal, I'm not justifying it, but it's my job, working with kids, to be patient as they learn right and wrong and help them learn to make good choices. I have done everything in my power to find the stolen iPod, while not causing harm to the kids involved. Even if he stole it, I'm not going to scream at him or scare him or hurt him. He's nine. He's a little kid who made a mistake. And at this point, I don't even know if he stole it, so I'm really not going to go after him without any proof. Can you imagine how damaging that would be to a kid? It will not help him learn, or make better choices. I have to give him the benefit of the doubt, rather than just assuming he's bad because of the neighborhood he's from." -Me

"Oh come on. You're trying to make this officer think everything is perfectly fine. These kids are riff raff. They are trash. They come from bad families. And he clearly stole it." -Nurse

"riff raff"

That's what she said. "Riff raff". We are talking about a NINE YEAR OLD CHILD. Nine. Years. Old. Yes, he had some trouble listening. So does every kid. But he changed his behavior. And he was a sweet, wonderful child who needed someone to be patient with him and take care of him while he was away from his mom, 3 hours away from home, in the woods, tired, homesick, and learning to make good choices. And he might have taken it, and while that is wrong, when you are nine, and something really nice that you don't have is laying around, it is tempting to grab it, so I can understand how it happened.

Riff raff...

At this point, in my head, I lunged over the table, around the officer, and attacked this woman who just insulted a nine year old because of the color of his skin. HOW DARE SHE????? Insult me, fine, you think I'm just a camp director. She was old enough to be my mom, I can deal with not being taken seriously. But this camp was originally started to serve inner city youth. And while that may not be our primary focus anymore, our focus is still, 100% all children, regardless of the color of their skin, or their neighborhood, or anything else. Because kids are kids. Kids need to be loved and cared for and given patience as the grow. All kids, even spoiled, bratty rich kids who leave their iPods laying around. All kids. She's a parent. Shoudn't she have some sense of empathy towards kids who make mistakes? Shouldn't she understand they need to be treated kindly while being taught appropriate choices?

Instead of beating her up and being dragged off in handcuffs (I had way too much to do to make time for that), I whispered, "perhaps your children need to find a camp with a different population of children."

To which she replied, "and different leadership."

To which I replied to the officer, "Is there anything more you need from me? I have given you all of the information I have and I need to get back to my job."

We all walked out of the room and I politely let her know that her son could stay for the closing program, but she was not to have any contact with children or adults at this camp. She sat on the steps of my house for the next two hours until she left.

She is everything that is wrong with society. I am so mad I could cry. I don't understand how people can be like that. I just don't get it.

What a Week

This has been the most intense week of camp I've ever lived through. Yesterday I got a voicemail from X, asking if I was okay because she'd noticed I hadn't written anything lately. At the time of the call, I hadn't eaten anything for I don't know how long, hadn't showered in 2 days, and was going on about 4 hours of sleep. What a week!

So let's start where I left off. Tuesday night, I am soaking wet, haven't eaten and the pontoon is across the lake. I am on my way to my cabin to change, and I get bombarded by three different counselors needing me to talk to their groups about being disrespectful to each other, about being too slow and not listening, about... ugh, we had a lot of issues going on. So I met with groups, one at a time. I listened patiently, worked through the issues, set out clear expectations (still soaking wet, and getting cold, but patient nonetheless).

Eventually I was able to eat dinner, change my clothes and take a deep breath. At 10pm, I was in my office, finally checking email and one of the kitchen crew girls came in. She was VERY unhappy with the other girl she works with. So I spent some time with her, talking it through, calming her down and trying to figure out what she can do to deal with the other girl's "annoyingness".

Wednesday-a lot of behavior problems, a lot of homesick kids, a lot of counselors not being as focused as they should have been. I spent the majority of the day in my office mediating conflict. I spent a lot of time with one child in particular, who started Monday with an attitude of absolute defiance, spent the majority of her time on Tuesday in my office, and finally got to the point of being unable to be in a group. I called her parents who let me know that they don't drive and I would have to deal with her.

Um, no.

So I let them know I would be driving her home that night.

I didn't want to have to send her home. I tried everything I could with behavior management strategies. I was patient, I was reasonable. I was firm, I was fair, but ultimately, she just couldn't function at camp. I felt like a failure that I couldn't get through to her, and I was frustrated with her stubborn attitude and opposition. That being said, she wasn't a bad kid. She was a little girl who was away from home for the first time. The two things she said to me over the course of all the time we spent together were, "you have to get up too early here" and "I really miss my mom." This was a kid who was tired and homesick and instead of crying like most kids, her pain manifested itself into bad behavior. I get that. I was trying really hard to remember that and be empathetic instead of just annoyed.

I wanted to leave at 4pm, but there were homesick campers and scheduling changes and counselor needs to attend to first. The Assistant Director had left earlier in the day to be gone for a conference, which meant I was leaving with no one to be the person "in charge", so I was trying to get everything settled. Finally at 7pm, we got into the van for the three hour drive back to the city. She slept the whole way and when we arrived, her older sisters were waiting to greet her with a hero's welcome. She was smiling and happy, and I had to once again, remind myself that she was just a little girl.

It was 9:30 when I dropped her off and I was not interested in turning around and driving back. I figured that by the time I got back to camp it would be after midnight and no one would be awake anyway, so it would be fine to just get up early and return the next day. So I drove 15 minutes to my house, watched some tivo-ed "So You Think You Can Dance" and went to bed early. Well, first I had to answer a phone call to figure out what to do about a camper who needed medication she didn't have, and then a phone call that started with, "HAS ANYONE CALLED YOU YET?" -J

"...no... what's wrong?"-Me

"We don't have any water in the main building." -J

It briefly crossed my mind to get off of my comfortable chair in my wonderful house and drive as fast as I could back. And then it crossed my mind to hide in a closet and never come out and never go back to camp. And then I took a breath and realized that there wasn't anything I could do at that time of night anyway, so I told them to get the big water jugs we use for the overnight, fill them with water and have the kids brush their teeth with that. Solved.

At 4am I was awake, 4:15 in the car, and back at camp by 6:30 the next day. I was EXHAUSTED. And frantic, because that building includes the kitchen, the showers, and the only bathrooms the kids will use. With no water, we had no working bathrooms, but we had kids using the toilets anyway. AHHHHH!!!!!! So I frantically starting calling around to find information about our utility company... Oh, um, we don't have city water, we have our own well (a very nice woman from a local utility company explained patiently the way things work), so then I started calling plumbers. There are no emergency numbers in Small Town Up North, so I sat and quietly panicked for a while.

At 8am, I finally got a hold of a local plumber who I convinced to come out ASAP. Ten minutes later, he was at camp, and about 20 minutes after that, we had water back. Crisis over.

That didn't mean that the trouble was over. Soon after the plumbing issue was resolved, I began a day long standoff with three kids. I had already spoken to all three of them several times, and Thursday it blew up. None of the counselors could handle them and so they sat in my office, except that they didn't sit quietly. They made noise and wouldn't sit and let me know several times that they hated camp, me and that they would be telling their parents how awful it was. We called their parents, who let me know they didn't drive and I would have to deal with them (sound familiar? Yeah, we have a large group of scholarshiped kids here this week and the nuns who sponsored them didn't have a plan for getting them back in case of behavior problems). I couldn't face driving back again, and yet, they just weren't listening.

In nine summers of camp, I have never felt as powerless and unsure of what to do as I felt on Thursday. I wanted to cry in exhaustion and frustration, and I felt like the whole camp was in chaos. At lunch, I brought the three trouble kids with me to the dining hall and sat them at a separate table. "Please just sit there and be patient" I asked them. Maybe I looked pathetic or they realized they broke me, or what, but they sat, quietly, and ate nicely.

At lunch I received a phone call from our Office Manager letting me know that J's mom had called her and yelled at her for 45 minutes. Apparently, according to J's mom, I had turned into Hitler since the Boss had left, and the reason he left was because I had worked hard to get rid of him. Also, how dare we have such inadequate facilities without water?

My first instinct was to go in and kick J straight in the head. It seemed like the best way to handle the situation. I TRIED TO GET RID OF HIM??? ARE YOU KIDDING ME? Yes, I totally wanted to deal with broken boats, angry kids, plumbers and never sleep, this was all part of my plan. Even typing this makes my blood boil. How dare she? I'm having a positive attitude, because that is what a professional does. But I am doing the work of two full time people right now. And it's not easy. And really, her timing couldn't have been worse, as I was in the middle of the behavior crisis, sleep deprived, and drained.

After the phone call, two of my staff (my absolute best staff) approached me to share a concern about some other staff who weren't doing their jobs. Apparently 3 staff had left their campers during an activity, hadn't been helping, etc. (one of those staff being the girl whose mom considers me Hitler by the way). And that was the final straw.

I walked the three trouble campers back to my office and said, "Thank you for turning your behavior around during lunch. You made a good choice and I am proud of you for that. Now let me level with you. We're going to have a grown up conversation right now. (You should have seen their faces change when I said that). Here's the deal. I think that you made some bad choices, but I also think that you got a bum deal because some of your counselors weren't doing what they were supposed to. I am sorry for that. Grown ups aren't supposed to make mistakes, but sometimes they do. And so you'll have to be patient with us. You are not going home. You are going to make better choices and stay here."

An hour after they told me they hated me and wanted to go home, all three asked if they could hang out with me the next day too. When I asked them why they said, "we really like you." And for the past two days, they have gone to activities and made good choices, but also been glued to my side every moment they have free.

Anyway, the whole group gathered at the flag pole to split up for the fourth period and I said, "Okay, we have a really fun surprise! All of the campers are going to go with S and S, for extra fun games in the field, and all of the staff are going to come with me." Everyone looked a bit shocked, but the shock worked well because everyone did exactly what they were supposed to.

"We're going to pause."

"Sometimes, when things start to get out of control, we just have to stop, take a breath and center ourselves. So that is what we are doing." I was whispering. They were captivated, or maybe just drained, but I had their attention either way. I acknowledged the challenges we had faced throughout the week and praised all of the things I appreciated. And then I let them know some of the observations myself and their co-workers had noticed. I pointed out expectations and then asked for feedback, other issues, advice for each other, etc. We had a good discussion and I could actually feel the energy go from chaotic to calm. It definitely helped me feel calmer and more in control.

After the meeting we went back to regularly scheduled activities. We had an all-camp game, evening prayer, and ended the evening with the weekly dance, which is always pure happiness and enjoyment for everyone. I was in the common area outside the showers as the youngest campers came down from the dance, and little John, who I have talked to at least 15 times because he is the most high maintenance, sensitive kid ever, said, "I just want to party all night long!" And gave me a thumbs up. If we can make that kid happy, clearly the dance is the perfect activity.

I missed most of the dance, as I was sitting with two little girls who were terribly homesick and inconsolable. I have spent quite a bit of time with both of them, chatted with both of their moms, and pretty much done everything in my power to make sure they were okay. It was actually a pretty relaxing night, because they were both fairly calm and good natured and we spent some time playing cards and chatting.

I went to bed feeling much more at ease about camp and the week as a whole. Today I have spent a fair amount of time with campers (behavior issues, homesickness and of course my three new shadows who would rather skip swimming and all of the fun kid activities to hang out in my office and watch me type), but there haven't been any natural disasters or catastrophes, so that's good.