“Why Do You Work at Summer Camp?”

I was recently emailed this question by a friend of mine. ‘Why do you work at summer camp?’ At first glance I thought it would be an easy question to answer, I love kids, love camp and I love meeting new people, but that answer was much too simple. Once I really thought about the reasons why I work at summer camp I replied and said this:

“This question has alot of answers, for me at least. One of the top reasons that I work at summer camp is because I remember being at camp when I was younger and how much it meant to me to be there for even just a week. I remember the friends that I met (some of whom I still talk to today) and the staff who I looked up to as role models. One of the reasons that I have returned to work at summer camp for so many years is because thinking about those memories makes me want to be that staff member for these kids to look up to. I want them to have a great experience, as I did when I was a camper, and I want to be a part of that. Plus what other type of job do you get to spend all day every day outside!”

After I pushed the ’send’ button, I thought of so many other reasons that I continue to return to camp year after year. Of course I didn’t want to reply to this person with a novel of an answer so I decided to keep my reply quite simple. Here’s the place where I feel like I can really answer this question though.

I don’t even know where to start. Camp is like my second home. I feel safest when I’m there, sometimes I even feel safer there than I do in my own house here at the beach (especially recently with out little scare last week… that story to come shortly). There are so many people from different parts of the world, different walks of life, that you really learn so much more than you ever expected.

Sometimes I only wish that I wouldn’t take that for granted. At the beginning of the summer, during staff training, my boss tells us to write down three goals that we hope to accomplish throughout the next eight weeks. I have one goal, that I admit I have written down for the past four summers and never feel like I have accomplished it. I always write that I’d like to learn something new everyday about any of the staff members that I work with. I feel that since we are spending the next eight weeks together, that is probably a decent goal to have, am I right?

I probably learn so much more than I give myself credit for. I always wished that throughout the summer I would take some time out of my day to write down that thing that I learned so that by August I would have a good sized list to look back on. I would expect that the things I learn at the beginning of the summer are common things, like where the person is from or why this person decided to work at summer camp, and than throughout the summer I would hope that my things learned are more personal, for instance their life fears. (silly excuse, I know, but you know what I mean).

I leave at the end of the summer sometimes saying bye to staff members that I have spent the whole summer with and realize that I barely know them. It kind of hurts to know that I had all that time to get to know these wonderful people and the only people that I feel like I have gotten close to are the ones who I work with at the waterfront. It’s hard when we are separated into units and groups for the summer, but that doesn’t mean we don’t see everyone else. So really there is no excuse for me not to have accomplished this goal by now.

That’s getting a little off the question though… sorry for my rant. Why do I work at summer camp? Besides the obvious reason of being able to spend all day outside getting a good tan? (That’s not a reason per say, just an extra that comes with the job… hee hee)

Well I can say that I don’t work at camp for the money. Anyone who has worked at a camp before probably knows that it’s not the BEST paying job you could find for the summer. Now I will admit that it is nice to get paid for doing what I love to do, but if I could give up the money to do it all for free (lets say that I wasn’t a college student and money wasn’t an issue for me) than I would say yes, I would do it. What I believe is more important than any amount of money is having fun while your still young. (I hear people older than I say that all the time). Seeing the smiles on the kids faces when they capsize a sailboat on their own or hearing laughter from their tent when they are suppose to be asleep, that’s what camp is all about. It’s all part of the experience.

I guess that still doesn’t answer the question about why I DO work at camp. All that comes to mind are the words ‘I love it’. I know if I had replied with that answer I would have gotten something back along the lines of, “yes, but WHY do you love it?” Heres why.

Driving through the front gates makes me feel like I am home. Being able to sleep in an environment where I can hear the crickets at night so clearly that I would think they were sleeping right beside me. Opening my eyes in the morning to the sun peeking in through my tent flaps or through the screen windows, waking me up with it’s soft rays of light. Spending my day with people I consider friends instead of co-workers. Hearing children sing camp songs as they make their way to morning flag. Taking in hugs from kids half your size who look up to you as a role model. Breakfast conversations about what the campers are excited about, especially little things like walking across the swinging bridge for the first time. Having the echos from the waterfront flow into my ears even when I’m on the other side of camp. Watching campers accomplish something that they were extremely scared of, and than hearing them ask if they can do it again. Swimming in a lake instead of the normal pool. Knowing that if anything happened to me these people, some of whom I just met, would have my back and support me anyway they could. Seeing adults be kids again. Not having technology invade my everyday activities. Smelling the scent of fish coming from the lake. Being able to kayak or sail everyday for eight weeks. The feeling that anything is possible. A place where I can wear my oldest, crummiest looking clothes and no one cares. Kids actually looking forward to waking up at seven in the morning for camp activities. Learning new things, even at the age of 21. Going to bed at night knowing that in just one day of camp I have made a difference somewhere.

I suppose those are just some the reasons that I work at camp. (I told you my answer would be like a novel!)

Some Of My Favorites

Yesterday I spent the day shooting two of my good friends for their engagement photos. I feel so blessed to have had the opportunity to not only take part in such a big event in their life but also just to spend the day with them and enjoy the time we got to hang out with each other like old days. Here’s a sneak peak of some of their digital photos from yesterday.

Quote of The Day

My friend lent me this book called ‘Crush It’ by Gary Vaynerchuk tonight. I opened it not really meaning to get as into it as I thought, but my friend was right… the book does indeed pull you right in.

Well I got quite far in it just in the 10 minutes that I read. Than I decided that I wanted to share something from the first couple of pages. The writer talks about the three simple rules that he follows to success. Here is what he says:

“Love your family.
Work superhard.
Live your passion.”

“If you don’t already live the first principle, get on it, because… Your family always comes first. But if you’ve got your priority straight, and you’re working hard, and you’re still not 100 percent happy, it’s probably because you’re not living your passion. And that, my friends, although it is only one-third of the secret to success, is the whole key to staking your claim in the new business world we live in today.”
– Gary Vaynerchuk

MISSING Sun! If Found Please Return To Wilmington

The darkness has covered Wilmington with it’s presence for the past three days. This means that it has pretty much felt like night time for 72 hours…. kinda cool actually.

I don’t think I have spent so much time in the darkness. The darkness meaning the lack of light outside, not darkness in my own life, all though I haven’t spent a lot of time there either. I have found that getting up in the morning has been easier with the sun hiding outside. I’m not sure if it’s the sun not being out or just that I’m getting used to getting up so early now.

Either way I have acquired this new ‘Let’s get up and get going with my day’ feeling lately. *This may be going a bit off course, but I’ll make it work * I love the feeling of going to class than coming home and making a good cup of coffee, having breakfast (or lunch depending what day it is) and cleaning or doing work or anything that requires me to be productive. It’s been hard these past couple of days to really get that feeling going though. *Told you I’d pull these two topics together… I’m good!* By the time I get home I normally open the blinds to find the sun shining in its rays of light to brighten up our living room or my bedroom… since Tuesday there has been no light. Period. For the past three days I come home only to go to the blinds, turning them expecting to see the light that usually blinds my eyes for a short second, but recently I’ve only seen the gloom and darkness that has covered the town that we live in.

At first I didn’t like it. I didn’t like the feeling of being in the darkness all the time. Plus the rain… oh man, the rain has been on and off like crazy since Monday night. It’s beginning to get colder (I hate to say it but it’s beginning to feel like Christmas time.. ::gulp::) and that means layers of clothes, bundles of blankets and of course *my favorite* warm showers!

Getting off course a bit. Right so at first, didn’t like being in the dark for days in a row. Now, after three long days, I’ve kind of gotten used to it and, might sound weird, but am actually enjoying having darkness in the middle of the day. It’s such an odd thing that never happens. I think that’s why I like it. Plus it’s almost the weekend, which means that I don’t have to walk in the cold, musty, rainy weather for two whole days! I can just open the patio door, get in my PJ’s, cuddle under a few blankets with a cup of french vanilla hot cocoa and enjoy some good movies in our living room. What a perfect weekend!

Rambling About Rain

I love the sound of rain as it hits the ground outside, soaking into the ground that was once so dry. I love sitting on a covered porch with my eyes looking out watching as the innocent raindrops fall from above. It’s amazing how many people I know hate the rain but I love it.

Rain is kind of a stress reliever in my book. On days that the rain comes for a visit I take some time just to sit next to my open window and close my eyes, just to listen to the taps of each raindrop as it hits the building or the cement block we have as a patio. I listen as it all falls to the ground knowing that it is immediately being soaked into the soil, sometimes making huge muddy puddles and sometimes creating lovely streams that flow from here to there. After a good rain our parking lot normally has a good sized puddle covered the whole area, plus some mud puddles in between the buildings.

The thing that I dislike about the rain is how some people can’t appreciate it. What’s wrong with getting a little wet? I walk to school every day, not once have I asked somebody to give me a ride. There are numerous reasons for this but mainly because I think it’s silly to drive your car, not even half of a mile, across the street when you can get a great workout and walk the 10 minutes. If somebody asks me for a ride because they are lazy, well that’s quite disturbing in my book. But if someone asks me to drive them to school because it’s pouring down rain outside I normally am alright with it and give them a lift because I know that if I ever get strained at school because it’s storming hopefully they would return the favor.

Now to give one person a lift is alright, but when other people start asking you for a ride and you find your self leaving the house three times in one day JUST to go and bring a person from point A to point B because of some silly rain is quite ridiculous.

I had class this morning… it was sprinkling… I got wet… starting raining harder on my way to school… I got more wet… didn’t start pouring until I got home… I lucked out. Had the rest of the day planned to get cozy in my PJ’s with a cup of coffee and do some major writing (I sound like a real writer, eh? haha) but now I feel like I need to wear real clothes because not only will I be going out once or twice but THREE times. (That’s something that I learned from my daddy. Don’t wear your PJ’s while driving incase you break down or you get pulled over.. how embarrassing. Plus it’s just nicer to be in proper clothes.)

I should feel good that I am helping people and doing good deeds, eh? Why do I feel like this magical free rain has turned to a evil spell that has made me into a ‘taxi driver’? I hope that’s not a sign of my future job…

Moving On

I believe I have grown so much since highschool, especially living on my own. The thing that I’ve been thinking about a lot lately though is my room. I consider my room as my little cave… that sounds quite depressing actually but I see it has my place to be by myself and have ‘me time’.

One of the places in my life that I have really grown in is keeping clean and being really organized. Now if you’ve seen my room at my parents house you would think differently, but that’s a different story. My sister and I both live in that room at the moment and that’s why it’s a tad (maybe tad is a understatement) unorganized.

Living in my own house I still have to share a room but I find it a lot easier to keep organized. I haven’t quite figured out what it is yet about being here that makes me more organized but I’m glad I’ve acquired this new ability to keep clean. It makes me feel better about myself. It’s a great feeling after I’ve cleaned to see the floor and to know exactly where everything is. I absolutely love it!

I realized when I really got thinking to it that I’ve never really had my own room. My older sister and I always shared a room when I was younger, which was nice because I was younger and I felt like I needed my older sister to keep me safe from those scary monsters that live under your bed. She moved into her own room when she was in highshool, but her new room didn’t have a closet so that means that some of her clothes were still in my room. So I guess you can say I did have my own room for about a year. Even though when she was in college and I was still at home in highschool a lot of her stuff stayed in my room and didn’t leave, always felt like I was constrained with her stuff.

Now in days she stays in my room at my parents house because what was her room is now kind of a storage room until we can get other parts of the house clean. That means whenever I go home to see my family it’s her I’m sleeping with… oh the good ‘ol days.

Coming to college I knew the cheaper way to do it was to share a room, so that’s the way it’s been for the past three and a half years. All I can say is that I am ready to move on and have my own place… at least my own room.

I have always pictured myself with a place of my own where I can be my kind of organized. Where I don’t have to worry about people eating my food or using my clothes washing detergent. A place where I can alphabetized my movies and not have to worry about them getting out of order. Where I can have my own book shelf for my (once again alphabetized) books and have a desk to do actual work at (weather I’m still in school or maybe writing articles for a paper or magazine someday) and another desk for all my scrap booking stuff (It is that important to me that my scrapbook would have it’s own desk!). An apartment where I can have maybe a fish who I would name ‘Mastashio’ or that puppy I’ve been wanting for some time. Where I can have a whole wall for my racing numbers and medals. Where I wouldn’t feel so cramped in such a little cave where there aren’t even lights in the living room (yeah, what kind of apartment complex doesn’t put lights in the living room!).

That’s what I see for myself when I come to that point where I feel like I’m ready to move on. Part of me feels like I’m ready, I’m ready just to pack up and go and be on my own and than the other part doesn’t want to leave. It makes me feel like once I leave I won’t know what I had until it’s gone. We’ll see… I still have quite a bit of time until I’m going anywhere though.

Thankful For What I Have

I have had people in my life tell me that I am not thankful or that I am not worthy of what I have in my life… to that I say they are wrong. They are wrong for even THINKING that my heart is not greatfull for what it has.

Here what’s going through my mind right at this moment. My family are the most important people in my life. All though I don’t show it sometimes, I get so excited when I find that I have a free weekend and I can go and visit them. They mean the world to me and I would hands down do anything for any of them.

I AM extremely thankful that my parents have the jobs that they do and have provided myself, along with my brother and sister, with everything they have given us in our lives. Not only the necessities like a roof and food and clothes but also the loads of Christmas presents we’ve gotten over the years and our birthday presents and even now in college my parents send Easter baskets and Halloween candy…. I don’t know any other college students who get treats like that through out the year. I’d say my parents are pretty cool!

I’m not sure if I should really go here but I’ll touch on the topic and than leave it be. That all being said about being extremely thankful for what I have in my life, I feel that some people just don’t get it. I hear what people tell me about this saying things like, “Well at least my mamma and dad don’t pay for everything…” and, “I have to pay for everything I have… I don’t have help from my mamma and daddy…” and maybe it’s because they come from a different background but it hurts when someone tells you that you aren’t worthy of your life. (yes, I’ve actually had someone tell me that I am not worthy. We don’t speak anymore.) It makes me want to burst out and just shout something. Something that really makes them realize that I’m ok with who I am and that I thank God every day for my family and friends and EVERYTHING that I own and have in my life. Im ok with it and I shouldn’t, and don’t, feel ashamed that I am where I am today.

That’s what I would love to say to those who don’t understand… but at the same time I was always taught that money is not a conversation to have amongst friends/roommates/co-workers/class mates, etc. It just gets you into trouble. (Hence why I’m kinda just rambling on about it here to myself.)

Money isn’t everything in the world. Anyone can live without money. It may make you happy and make you have that feeling of wealth, but what really matters in life is knowing that people will always be there for you no matter where they are in their life. You have to work for what you have and I believe I work pretty darn hard. No one should tell me that I am not thankful or worthy of my life because those people are wrong. Very wrong.

Procrastination At Its Worst

Being in school means only one thing… I always have SOMETHING to do. If I’m not studying for a test than I am writing a paper. If I’m not writing a paper than I’m reading. If I’m not reading than I am making flashcards. And if I’m not doing any of the above than I am procrastinating!

Yesterday I planned on getting my homework done before heading to bed (as I normally do) and as you can probably guess from the title of this entry…. it didn’t get done until real late. My housemate and I had planned on going out to eat than coming home to keep working on school work that we both desperately had to get done. WELL….. (dot dot dot) I’m sorry to say that’s not really how the night went.

While sitting eating dinner, my housemate decided (at the spur of the moment) that she wanted to start running.

FUNNY STORY: It was seriously a spur of the moment type thing. We were quite for a few seconds and out of no where she said, “I want to start running, but I don’t have any running shoes. WANNA GO TO DICK’S CROSS THE ROAD WITH ME TO GET SHOES?” *laughs* It was hilarious!

After dinner we went to get her shoes. Had planned to do a bit of running today but found the security tag still stuck on them so we can’t run until she can get back to the store and get them to take it off for her. Huge bummer!

I thought that was going to be the worst of it. I thought my procrastination was over and I would soon be returning home to sit at my desk only to make myself focus on writing that bloody one page paper on some readings I hadn’t read yet. Boy, was I wrong!

Upon returning home, my housemate asked me to color her hair. We had bought her two boxes of a dark red hair color (because she has such long hair) last weekend and never got around to it. I believe her exact words were, “Why don’t you procrastinate just a little more and help me color my hair?”… and of course when she adds in the puppy dog face I can’t say no to her.

So I took the next 15 minutes to help drench her hair in ‘Cinnaberry’ red hair color. We had actually only used one bottle of dye, didn’t even finish the first bottle come to think of it. She had already mixed together the second bottle and she didn’t want to waste it so she looked at me and said, “Ok, your turn!” BAHAHA… I thought she was kidding. Well my friends, I sit here today writing to you with ‘Cinnaberry’ colored hair. That’s right…. she used the rest of the bottle and most of the second bottle on my hair and when we saw we STILL had some left over we went to our other housemate.

Now we all have different shades of red running through our hair… we’re all matching! hee hee. The thing that caught me though was the name of the hair color. ‘Cinnaberry’. What the hell of a name is ‘Cinnaberry’ for a hair color?!?!? Sounds like some Christmas lotion or cinnamon biscuits with berries in them… NOT a hair color. I tell the truth people… CINNABERRY was the name!!

I was a bit sad to color my hair because the last time I colored my hair was freshman year, nearly three years ago, and I told myself than that I didn’t want to dye my hair anymore. I said that I liked the color of my hair and I didn’t want to damage it anymore than I already had. (Of course after my boss this summer pointed out a gray hair she found on my head I was quite sad… I didn’t believe her until she pointed it out to me again later that night and I saw it for myself. *sadness*) So I’ve been thinking alot lately about dying my hair a really dark blue/black color. I did it in highschool and loved it, only problem is that I can’t find the color anywhere. *again… sadness* I guess that’s a sign that I shouldn’t color my hair?

Anyways, all that to say that procrastination really kicks you in the butt sometimes. It overcomes you in ways you never thought it could… at least it was awesome housemate bonding time!

This is What Happens…

… when you don’t clean out your fridge for three months!

Gross, eh? Don’t worry we’ve gotten better about cleaning out our fridge since this summer. Unfortunately somebody bought milk right before all three of us left out of town and upon returning, months later, this is what we found in our fridge. Trust me, it smelled heaps worse! I mean really… check this out.

A Regular Glass of Milk...

Chunky Milk After Months

Check out that carton of milk…. WHAT IS THAT FLOATING IN THERE? It was seriously floating… looks like cheese. uggggggg…. that’s enough of that now.

Lesson learned: Clean out fridge more often!

This Blog is Brought to You By The Dirt Digger People Outside My House

I had plans to write this amazing blog continuing my last entry about Talullas because silly me forget to mention the aftereffects of my drink and my phone conversation (that my best friend thought I had with my contact list. She thought the drink got to me and I just started talking to nobody on my phone.. she was wrong.). Sounds interesting, eh? (Trust me… you will want to hear it!) That story would have come to you today had it not been for these BLOKES WHO DUG UP OUR DIRT THIS MORNING!

Lets start at the beginning, shall we? Last week we had cable people come put cables in our apartment. Don’t ask me what they were for because I couldn’t tell you. Some people our apartment complex sent. They are doing work on every building here, so we know they weren’t out just to get us. Moving right along, when they came to our place they had to drill holes in the living room, my housemates room and my room… and of course I didn’t have time to clean.

**FUNNY STORY HERE: My housemate had to wake me up at 8am the day they came because they had to come into my room and she wanted to make sure I was decent. Right before I opened the door for them to come in, I realized that I had my underwear laying all over the floor…. I’m embarested to say that somedays it just doesn’t make it into the hamper. So I quickly ran about trying to pick at least my underwear to throw in my closet. That morning run around my room pretty much woke me up.**

Upon returning home from school, about two hours later, I walked into my bedroom to see my bed (this humongus wooden bunk bed) in the middle of my room. LITERALLY the middle of my room! Like, to get to the other side of the bedroom I have to crawl on top of my bed… I wasn’t very happy about it but I figured they would put it all back when they were done and for the time being I could just study downstairs in the living room. Boy how I was wrong!

It’s been five days… count them FIVE DAYS… since the cable people came to our house and you guessed it! OUR BED IS STILL IN THE MIDDLE OF OUR ROOM!!!!!! They finished everything they had to do that day and still didn’t move a piece of furniture back! My roommate had some friends visit this past weekend so she ended up moving furniture back in the living room and my housemate moved her furniture back in her room but our bed is still planted in the middle of our room because, well lets face it. We are not the strongest people on the planet. It would take us three plus at least two more people to lift that bed and move it back. It’s hard to find a time in the day where we are all home at the same time, how do you expect us to find a time to get four other hands to come at the same time?!?!

So that’s the bed issue. Heres what has gone down today. (Yes, there’s more.)

I got home from class today with full intentions to take a nap before starting on homework (which you can see I am certainly getting done… NOT!). So I went upstairs to nap in my “middle of the room bed” when I hear this omnoxcious drilling sound coming from outside our window. I take a peak outside and they are digging up the ground with one of those HUGE machines right out the back of our apartment. Really annoying sound if you ask me. I didn’t want to close the window because than our room gets quite toasty and has that icky feel to it, so I decide, “ok, I’ll just go nap downstairs on the couch.”

WELL on my way to the couch I glance outside the little bit of window that I could see and I spot dirt. Dirt on our patio. So I’m thinking, “What in the world are they doing?” I walked up to the blinds, pulled them to the side and saw the biggest pile of dirt I’ve seen in a really long time! I mean this pile is HUGE! I didn’t even know Wilmington had that much dirt… honestly! Everywhere else in the state has dirt. We have sand. Where there should be dirt here, there is sand. So to see this amount of dirt on my patio was a total shock!

Here’s what got me though. I glanced to my left and saw that they were digging up the dirt from right next to our cement patio. Right in between the bushes and the patio. Right where I barried The Cuteness about a year and a half ago. It hit me like a brick and my eyes immediately started to tear up. Kind of a silly thing to cry about because I know that his body is far gone by now, but it was just really sad to see the area where I laid him to rest be dug up.

So that’s where this entry comes from today. Definitely couldn’t take a nap after thinking about that, so I made me a cup of coffee and decided to be all expressive and write about it.

Thanks dirt digger people for giving me this feeling of sadness to which will now stick with me for the rest of the day (and for taking my nap away from me…).