Quick Update

Things are busy, but good busy. The campers have arrived, and we have quickly gotten into a routine. My three girls are well. I've done a little spying, here and there, and have seen lots of smiles. Even Addie, who at 7 is probably a little young to be a full time camper, is a super star.

The most exciting news is that both Addie and Sydney made the cast of the camp show, Seussical. Addie will be playing the part of a "Citizen of Who-Ville", and Sydney got cast in the part of Gertrude. What's that part? She asked the director. Turns out, she's the female Lead!!

Way to go SYDNEY! (I'm so proud of my daughter!)

The Graduate

Two days ago, Hayley graduated from 8th grade. I may be biased, but I think she's gorgeous!

Ready for anything????

Half way through day one, and I’m stoked to be here with my summer family. Silly story of the day: I met my staff today for the very first time. They are all college aged girls, here in the US for the first time. I ran a very organized orientation this morning. I talked non-stop, for an hour, explaining their duties and responsibilities.

Then, I took them on a tour of our art center. I opened the door to our scrapbooking room, and we found a baby bat, sleeping on the floor. Yes, I said, bat. It was the size of a little froggy, but it was a BAT.

I should have been calm and reserved. Instead, I ran screaming from the room.

I’m great at first impressions.

J

Home Camp Home

Armed with disinfectant, rubber gloves, mops, brooms, and my middle daughter, I trekked up to camp today to clean my cabin and unpack. Sydney was kind enough to keep me company and the two of us worked hard to get my cabin spanking clean.

My summer home, is a room, about 12x12 with a private bathroom. I have air conditioning, though a fan is still necessary, I have pergo flooring. A bed. Two "cubbies" and a lighting fixture. It's just big enough for my bed and my clothes.

Camp is a great experience, though, we learn very quickly, that there is a lot we cannot control, and we have to accept it.

Today was a good example.

I arrived, as planned, at 11:00 am. When I arrived at camp, I came to find out that a staff member, who had been injured a few days ago was convalescing in my cabin. Though they had him leave fairly quickly, and move to a new resting spot, the cabin was a disaster area when we arrived. His used medicinal supplies littered the floor, the toilet was in the up position, there were food crumbs generous strewn about, used paper towels crumpled on the bed, not to mention the requisite dust and dirt all over the floor.

If we were checking into a hotel, the condition of the room would have been unacceptable. It would have been cleaned and sterilized before we even arrived.

Of course, camp is no hotel, so the housekeeping was left to us. And though it only took a couple of hours to scrub it spotless, and though I've been coming to work at camp for 6 years, there is still a bit of culture shock when I first get there. We did fine, of course, after a couple deep breaths and a lot of elbow grease.

Camp is about "making do". It is about fulfilling basic needs. It is about scaling down expectations. It is about making something out of nothing. And my daughter, proved to me today that she's a great camper. She helped my through the muck, and at the end of the day, we had a great time together.

And even though my room is small and sparse. It's clean. It's private. And for the next 8 weeks, it all mine.

I'm so lucky!!!

Counting Down stream of conciousness...

I've been busy checking things off my list before I leave for camp.

The bills are paid.

The bags are packed.

Now i have to go to the supermarket, to stock up the shelves for the week the kids are home with gregg, but I'm at camp.

I've had shpeilkes here and there, it's so overwhelming.

I know I'll have a great summer, but at this point I'm always feeling a bit of DREAD.

I leave on Sunday, then return on Monday for Hayley's graduation, then back to camp first thing Tuesday.

I'm getting too old for this, I think. I hope I bring the guitar hero to camp. I'm so tired. I hope I'll be a good boss. I hope I get a good staff.

I hope the girls have fun this summer.
I got my hair cut. It's summer short. Not boy short, but it's short. Not scary short, but it's not medium length. It's short. I actually like it. The messier the better.
I hope I can keep up with the blog-0-sphere at camp. Things are so different there. We don't do a lot of web surfing, there's no time and little connectivity.

I have to put the paperwork away and finish packing. I'm wasting my time here. It's just easier to write than to face the work. EEEEEkkk.

Isn't this cool???

It's that TIME Again

As of next Monday, I'll have packed up the family, and moved to overnight camp for the next 8 weeks. Even though its only a week away and this is the 6th year I've done this, it's hard to come to terms with the reality that in a week, I'll won't be cooking, cleaning, doing laundry or yelling (at least at my own kids).

I will be living in a small, (and I mean small) room. I will have air-conditioning, and cable, too.

I won't have easy access to the internet. I won't have a lot of control over my schedule. I won't know what's for dinner until I arrive in the dining hall. I won't get to spend a lot of time with my kids. I won't see my husband, except on the weekends.

I will be visiting dairy queen now and then. I will have to learn to deal with the heat. I will be meeting people from LITERALLY all over the world. At the tender age of 44, I will be one of the 8th oldest person at the camp. I will be bringing my travel scrabble game. I will be eating all you can eat crabs 3 or 4 times. I will have to drive 30 minutes to get to the closest Walmart.

I won't be dressing well. I won't be talking sister everyday. (This will piss her off). I will be writing letters to my kids, even though I will see them every day. I will get the privilege of seeing who my kids are palling around with.

I will be seeing a skunk, a snake and lots of bugs. I won't be prepared for it when I do. I will be supervising a group of college students. I won't be yelling at them much (I'm a pretty easy boss). I won't have to wear a lot of make-up. But I'll put it on every day. I will be taking a nap after lunch every day.

I will spend most of the summer wearing crocs and paint splattered tees and shorts. I will forget names of a lot of the campers, even though I'll try not to. I will have 3 nervous breakdowns. I will teach a class in ceramics or silkscreening when the assigned teacher is sick. I won't really know what I'm doing. I will fake it well.

I will pledge to eat well, and not have too many chocolate chip cookies or trips to the dairy queen. I will start off well, but have a few slip-ups.

I will sing karaoke at the local bar, and if I do it just right, I will embarrass my husband, and anyone else that admits to knowing me.

I will rent movies at the block-buster, and then I will watch them, and then I'll watch them again, with the dvd bonus comments turned on.

I will be writing and directing a 10 minute movie...to be shown at the end of the summer. I will be supervising the costuming and make-up of 2 theatrical productions. I will be decorating our dining hall for an end of season banquet. I will be putting together 2 visiting day art shows.

I will be exhausted at the end of the day, every day. I will be really exhausted at the end of the summer.

I will get two evenings of visitation with my children. I will really enjoy every moment with them.

At the end of the summer, I will come home, and do a TON of laundry. And this will feel precious and new. I will once again appreciate how lucky I am to have my wonderful husband and children, parents and sister and bro-in-law.

Not so fast...

We can't always be happy, I guess. But lately, I feel like shutting down. I wish I had a more generous spirit, a more patient heart, a happier foundation. I wish I could be a better role model, a better wife, a better daughter. I wish I could love myself enough to take better care of myself. I wish I could have more confidence in myself. I wish I could be more organized. Less distracted, more focused. I wish I could live in the moment instead of wishing the moment away.

It's 1:38 am. I wish I could just fall asleep.

Don't feel sorry for me. We all have bad days. This is just one. And if I'm going to be honest with myself, I need to acknowledge my bad days too.

Tomorrow is another chance to get it right.