LOVE. This word seemed to be the theme of my week. Everywhere I turned from day to day it almost hit me anew as if I had never looked at things in the perspective of love. One of my greatest joys is watching our staff just let go and hang out with our campers. Monday afternoon when our pool party was canceled and our counselors had to suddenly improvise on activities, a group went off to the field to play football, another to the basketball goal, others to find things to do while hanging out in the cabin. I watched these groups of guys for a moment as I walked back to the office. Everyone of them about to crumble from sweat and pushing themselves very hard in their game. Suddenly I realized, in those moments, everyone was put on the same level and suddenly there were no disabilities just boys having fun. Counselors were letting go and listening to campers call the next play and making sure they did their best to play it to perfection. I realized then that our counselors had found a form of love. Everyone just let go and focused on having fun. My heart swelled with pride over these counselors and with more love than I knew what to do with. That night as a storm passed through and forced our evening activities into our dinning hall, I watched again with pride over our counselors embracing their campers. A good quarter of our campers were brand new this week and I was impressed at how quickly they clicked with their counselors and already had relationships going. I watched as a counselor had his first opportunity to deal with seizures as a camper crumbled 3 times that evening. Each time, leaving a mess to be cleaned and a wound to be mended. Not once did I see a grossed out look from his counselor just pure concern that turned into love as he learned how to better help this camper. As we left our dance party and gathered outside to sing our goodnight song, We noticed a rainbow that almost appeared to hug camp from one side to another-even more exciting was to see a faint double rainbow. Just another reminder of God's love toward us. I love seeing His little reminders at random times in my life. Rainbows are some of the best.
Tuesday was pretty much the normal day for us. It was strange for Eddie and I to be in the office and not having to start cabin assignments for the next week. We took this time in the office to write thank you notes to each of our counselors. After nap time, we spent the rest of the afternoon hanging out with our cabins. The evening was filled with skits and laughter from our Clown Show. Eddie and I prepared several new skits and seemed to be one of our better shows. As we said goodbye to the two clowns that come out every week to do their routines, Eddie and I noticed one of our Program Staff members walk by, something obviously wrong. I ran after him to see what was wrong to find out his grandfather had passed away and he needed to leave ASAP. Blake is our Talent Show organizer so he had a lot of things he had to get done by our Thursday night Talent Show. Without another thought, I immediately volunteered Eddie and I to get it done in his stead. I pulled Eddie aside later to tell him what I had done only to be met with total and full agreement on his part. It was just a way we could show our love toward him. Later that night as Eddie and I pulled a list together of things we needed to get done, I realized our work load had just doubled. I had no clue how we were going to pull off building a set for talent show, organizing the show, as well as finishing things we had to get done besides talent show, but I was ready for a challenge. We worked till midnight on Tuesday just getting as much of a jump start as possible.
Wednesday dawned earlier than I wanted, but I was ready for the day. We rolled up our sleeves and jumped in. We spent most of the morning hanging out with our cabins, but once lunch was over Eddie and I jumped into constructing a ship that would cover the full length of our stage. With the help of Sammie, our camper worker supervisor and another member of our program staff, we built a plank, cannon, mast, huge sail, a large helm and other little things in between. Wednesday afternoon we spent the afternoon painting the ship. My fingers are still slightly black from the paint. We stayed up late that night working on organizing each act and making sure we had music for everyone.
Thursday we jumped in with helping out a few cabins at the challenge course and spending some much needed time with our campers. At times I think being a counselor at Camp Spearhead is therapeutic. Being with my campers can put me at such ease and most of the time, truly relaxed. It was some much needed time with my campers. That afternoon we put the finishing touches on the ship, and finalized the music and organization of the night. Right after dinner we started straight into our camper recognition program. A chance for counselors to present their campers with little awards to celebrate accomplishments made that week or just to appreciate a certain thing about that camper. Once the cabin has received all their awards the campers then have the opportunity to take the mic and say whatever they want. You never know what you'll get which is part of the fun, but last night was something special. Almost every person who spoke into the mic spoke something of love. Whether it was counselor to camper, a camper to a counselor, camper to camper, or camper to camp in general, it had something to do with love. I heard the phrases "Camp Spearhead, you are my second family." "I love camp and can't wait to come back next year. I'm gonna miss this." "This is my home." My heart continued to swell as each camper shared what they loved about camp. I am so proud of our counselors for showing such unconditional love as they have which impacted every camper in the room. It is because of this that camp runs every year. Campers come back because of the love that we show them. Love filled our dinning hall that night. The feeling was beyond words.
I can't believe camp is over. Where did my summer go? I've had the best summer of my life this summer and have truly enjoyed my Paradise at camp. I would be lost without these people in my life. It hit me the other day just how boring life would be if there were no disabilities. I look at some of our campers and momentarily wonder what life would be like without their disabilities. Every time, I shudder at the thought. They wouldn't be the same camper I know. Life would be boring if they didn't have their disabilities. I have thanked God for disabilities more often ever since. He knows what He's doing as each person is created- disabilities or not. This population is my life and my joy. I would truly be lost without them. I wouldn't change them for the world. I LOVE them. They are my paradise.
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