What a whirlwind of a week!! I rarely allow myself the luxury of taking a nap on Friday afternoons because I like being able to sleep really well Friday night. This week though, I couldn't help it. First thing I did when I came in was pick up my cat and lay down on the couch. From what I can tell I was out within minutes. Next thing I know I hear my mom encouraging me to wake up and my cat no longer in my arms two hours later. "OOOPS" I thought, but it felt so good!!
Monday night one of the girls on our OP Staff and I had to take one of our campers to the ER. We had been concerned with a couple things she had been complaining about that afternoon and decided to take her to the ER just to be on the safe side. Once we were there and everything was settled, I traveled back to camp to check on the rest of my campers. I missed our weekly dance party and arrived just in time for a snack and put out a few "drama" fires going on among some of the campers. Once I was sure everyone was in bed for the night and all was well I went back to the ER to be with my camper. Thankfully it wasn't too long and we were able to go back to camp. We arrived back at camp around 12:30 am and around 1 we were crawling into bed. We slept in our Med-Tech office since it was easier than trying to make her bed in the cabin and waking everyone up. We were up and down throughout the night, but was nice to catch a couple hours sleep before the next day. Around 7:30 the next morning one of her counselors came to relieve me and I ran to my cabin long enough to brush my teeth and head to breakfast. From there the day took off. Around 11 her home came to pick her up and take her home. I still had on my clothes from the day before- never getting a chance to change. After lunch my co-lead Eddie and I normally sit and work on the next week's cabin assignments, but Eddie kicked me out of the office to go take a nap and shower. (I don't think I was smelling very good at that point....hahaha) the nap and shower were wonderful and I felt somewhat refreshed.
The day continued on in normal fashion with the exception of having a second pool party! The heat advisory was too high to do much else so to cool off we all jumped in the pool. It was a nice change. That night after acting goofy in some skits in our clown show, I followed one of our camper workers up to our activity building. She wanted some time to think about some stuff and I ended up being able to talk to her for a while about some things on her mind. We talked for a long time and missed our campfire and smores, but this was one camper I never felt I had "clicked" with, and by the end of the conversation, we covered ground and bonded like I never expected us too. Totally worth missing time around the camp fire.
Wednesday ended up being a pretty normal day for me. I was able to spend it with my girls. That night I was hanging out with one of my cabins waiting on an Ice Cream Social that they had won as a Bingo prize earlier in the week. During this time, one of the campers became slightly aggressive. We were aware that this is who she is and it only comes out sometimes. We haven't seen her act this way in several years. She hit a couple counselors and tried to bite me. We thought we had her calmed down and put to bed, but it wasn't long before they came searching for me because she was acting up again. By the time I got back she hit all her counselors and bit one on the hand. Unfortunately this caused us to have to send her home. We could not risk her hurting a camper. I hated having to do it, because I have a love for this camper. But I know it was the right thing to do.
Thursday rang bright and early. I wasn't quite ready to get up when my alarm went off. A male camper ended up getting sick in the night and it was Eddie's turn to sleep in the Med Tech Office with him. Poor Eddie only got a few hours sleep and looked as dead as I had been on Tuesday. So it was my turn to kick him out of the office that afternoon to sleep some. In the afternoon we were running on steam and asked each other if everything had really happened that week. Looking back at this point we both feel Monday was a long time ago. Talent Show was the perfect way to end the week. We had a Broadway Theme and added an intermission where Eddie and I dressed up with goofy glasses and sparkling top hats to hand out pop corn. My favorite act of all had to be one of our female cabins having a Beauty Pageant. It was the most precious act I've seen all summer. Each girl getting a chance to come center stage and do whatever they wanted. Some only walked up and waved, others danced or sang. It was beautiful and so precious. Love having counselors who come up with such creative ways to showcase our campers!!
It was an interesting week in a completely different way than the rest of the weeks. Some times we get campers and they have an infatuation with a counselor. They have huge crushes or even think they are dating the person. We as a staff try not to encourage it, because in the long run it hurts the camper but even in some cases, no matter how hard you pull away, you cannot convince them of what they do not want to believe. This was the case for me this week. Only I had about 5 campers come that have "crushes" on me. How this happened I don't know. Dickson has been one of my favorite campers since I met him four years ago. Back then he told me we were going to get married but when I told him I couldn't marry him cause I couldn't leave camp, he got mad and didn't want to speak to me again. He has since forgotten this scenario. He was back this week and he still waffles back and forth on who his girlfriend really is. Some times its me, sometimes its my friend and co-worker, Logan. Just kinda depends on his mood at the time. Another one of my "boyfriends" was Mikey. Now Mikey is one of those campers that for the longest time, he had a girlfriend one minute and literally the next minute he was dumping her for another girl. This is how we knew Mikey. When Mikey came week 2, he started on his normal switching back and forth thing and then Monday night I realized he wasn't dumping me. He kept sticking with me. The next day I tested the waters by telling him that one of my coworkers was my boyfriend. I thought he had gone back to his normal self by finding a new girl friend, only to be told later by his counselor that he was heartbroken and cried during his cabin's activity. I soon found Mikey and made amends, and figured when he came back later in the summer, he'd go back to normal. Well I was wrong. When he arrived this week I was still his girlfriend. And his mother even told me that he came home talking about me. Something he had never done in the past with any girl. He never could remember the name of his girlfriend until earlier this summer. Then there was Brian. Brian is an interesting guy. loves swings and singing. He has a thing for the female lead counselor. Last summer when I was a cabin counselor, he wouldn't give me the time of day and was completely in love with our lead counselor Katie. This year I hoped that it wasn't the lead counselor he had a thing for, but I was wrong. He missed Katie at first, but it wasn't too long before I became his new girlfriend. Though I kept my distance and never encouraged him, it never worked. He also came earlier in the summer, but nothing kept him from liking me. Rick, one of our camper workers pulled me aside last week and asked if we could go out. I managed to skirt around the subject and encouraged him that we just stay friends. He approached me again this week about going out and again I gently turned him down. By Wednesday though, he found a new girl. Brad, one of the sweetest boys I know, came up to me throughout the week and gave me a hug and called me his girlfriend but that never went much further than that. It was crazy. If I was talking to one of these boys, there was always another one watching and resulted in him getting jealous. Normally I can handle these kinds of "relationships" when they come different weeks from each other. But put them all in the same week.... that's crazy.
My week ended on a very happy note when I found out my brother has the opportunity to come to camp as a camper next week. I'm so excited that he gets to come and a true answer to prayer. I can't wait to spend a week with him at camp!!!!!
Though it was a crazy week, draining physically, mentally, and even emotionally, it was still a great week and I am so thankful the Lord gave me all the strength I needed to get through it. Without Him I can do nothing. I saw that this week and so thankful for His strength to get me through it. There are ways to look at this week and see a lot of negatives. But I'm so thankful He gives me the perspective to see the awesome Paradise I'm living in this summer!
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