WELCOME TO THE REAL WORLD
“If you ever get the chance to see a camp counselor at work, you’ve
seen one of the world’s many unrecognized superheroes. Camp counselors are a particular breed of
humans. We are ordinary people in a new
and extraordinary situation known as, camp.
A camp counselor is a slew of professions thrown together. We are thrown in the middle of nowhere and
told to do the impossible. Manage a
group of children for a few days with little supplies, few staff and next to no
pay. We are teachers instructing naïve
city-slicker-campers how to navigate the unknown territory known as
“nature”. We are therapists, comforting
the homesick kids and attempting to bring forth the inner young adults inside. We are janitors, cleaning the most disgusting
of outhouses. We are expert outdoorsmen,
managing to keep a group of campers alive in the woods for a few days. We are naturalists, identifying every plant,
bug, fish, twig, and pebble the campers stumble upon. We are repairmen,
patching a hole in the tent or a leaky pipe in the shower house. We are doctors, from scraped knees to the flu
to sunburns galore-we have seen it all and cured it all. Somehow every morning
at camp we lace up our boots, bandage our blisters and sing another song for
the umpteenth time. No matter how long
the work hours or how obnoxious the campers we have a driving need to come back
every summer. We give up modern
necessities, family vacations and hanging out with friends for early mornings,
screaming scouts, and a scratchy voice.
Being a camp counselor means working twenty-four hour shifts,
sacrificing your health for the campers and skipping a shower here and
there. By the end of the summer, the
thought of air conditioning and cable sounds like a dream. But everyone chokes back a tear or two as
they turn the corner on the last day and it the highway heading home whispering
to the summer breeze, ‘I’ll be back soon’.”
Wow. When I entered into this
journey I had no idea what I was in for.
The past six weeks have been some of the most exhausting, frustrating,
hilarious, and most importantly rewarding weeks of my life. Admittedly I went into this experience
naively excited to see my lifelong camp friends and spend another blissful summer
at the place I love so much, but I emerge from my first girls session at Camp
Marymount with valuable knowledge, priceless memories, and a happy heart. I wish I could have recorded every second of
the last six weeks and put it on display for you all just so that you could
catch a glimpse of the wonderful whirlwind I’m wrapped up in but between
chasing after little ones and stealing sleep between brushing hair and putting
on a happy face, I determined to allow myself to take it all in and report to
you all after.
I sit in the conference room of our
lodge writing to you all. My final
campers have just left and my cabin is spotless…deserted and lonely is more
like it. There are no candy wrappers
hidden between the sheets, spiders needing to be captured by a superhero
counselor, or sweet faces waking me up in the middle of the night because of a
bad dream. As I wipe the tears away from
my face and procrastinate completing my looming staff evaluations, I can’t help
but smile back on my time here so far. I
have no idea what it is like to be a parent but I can finally appreciate the
true value of a child. My heart aches a
little to think that I will never again see some of these sweet girlies that I
have called my campers. They have been
rotten, and angry, and upset, and high-strung, but they have been so incredibly
wonderful and their little time at camp has contributed to the most gratifying
experience that I have thus far experienced in my eighteen years. After six weeks of thinking time I have still
not determined the best way to present my stories/memories/and love of this
place to you all so I am going to spit it out the best way I know how and hope
for the best! Let me preface by saying
that I am not allowed to include pictures of my campers, which is very
upsetting, but I will hopefully make up with the pictures of this beautiful
place and my own great friends that have helped me to grow and learn this
summer. I love and miss you all and hope
you are well! So without further adieu, Camp
Marymount Girls Session 2012:
Kids have no regard for what you
do and don’t like…and it’s awesome. All
of the things I thought that I couldn’t do and thought that I detested were
immediately taken away with the wind when ten little girls showed up on the
tiny shoe-clad front porch of my cabin.
They don’t care about personal space, they for sure don’t have any
regard for your sleeping schedule, and they are convinced the world revolves
around each of them, a concept particularly challenging for me as I too am
often convinced of this. Anyways these
are a number of things my girls forced helped me to conquer this summer:
·
I HATE having my neck touched. I can’t tell you why and I know that it is
strange but I freak out and cringe and I just really don’t enjoy it. Well guess what kids LOVE doing…touching your
neck, hanging on your neck, drawing on your neck (?), making and adorning you
with necklaces. You name it, they love
it. Needless to say, I have a higher
tolerance of neck contact thanks to my little monkeys.
·
I also dislike holding hands. I think it’s strange and sweaty and your hand
holder either drags you along or lollygags behind you. I have, until recently, seen it as a waste of
time and embarrassment. Guess what else
kids love to do…hold hands!!! I challenge any one of you to test me on this
nowadays. I love holding hands. I’ll hold your hand when I’m your buddy, when
we are on our way to lunch, tying your shoes, watching stars, opening doors,
getting water, making beds, sitting on the ground, swinging, fill in the blank…
·
The word “panties” is foul. For many years it has been the bane of my
existence but it has come to my attention that every parent in the
English-speaking word has taught it to their young daughters as an appropriate
term for their underwear. At first this
was hard to grapple with but after washing, folding, and picking up off the
ground about 14,000 pairs of panties I have finally learned to embrace the
word. So put your big girl panties on
and deal with it.
·
As much as I hate to admit it, I have the worst
patience of anyone I know. I am short
tempered to a fault and I like things done a certain way, my way. This is not conducive to looking after
children and after serious work and, give or take 400 girls, I think I can
comfortably say that my patience has improved.
As much as I learned from the
girls this summer, I like to think I left them with a few life skills as well.
·
Any girl who had interaction with me this summer
can now dance. You’re welcome. I am no shy wallflower when it comes to
busting a move and when there was an opportunity to, those girls and I were
grooving.
·
Manners.
As sassy as I am, my mama and dad taught me to say “yes ma’am”, “no
sir”, “please”, and “thank you”. Those
girls went home with some words that will get them through life.
·
I can’t really take credit for this next gem of
valuable knowledge because it is something that I learned from my dad but if I
taught these girls anything this summer I hope that it is this: things can be
replaced, people can’t. When you put an
8 year old in a new environment with 9 other girls she doesn’t know and 2
teenage girls claiming authority, they cling to their upbringing and
individuality. Suddenly every towel that
is labeled with their last name is their most prized possession and it is truly
the end of the world if another girl drinks your last kool aid or steps on your
trunk. The lost flashlights, borrowed
socks, and intrusion of personal space created drama like I have never seen but
I did my best to pass onto these girls the value of the other girls surrounding
them. They will never meet girls like
this again in their life in an environment that allows them to be exactly who
they are, good and bad. I desperately
hope that my girls learned to appreciate and cherish each other as I have
cherished them and let the petty, little things slide.
What I learned this summer,
including but not limited to party tricks, things about myself, others, and this
place I call home during the summer.
·
People are amazing. There are wonderful people in this world that
will impress you, care for you, and never cease to amaze you. They will catch the spider hanging above your
bed, huddle under a bunk with you in an effort to escape crazed bats in the
cabin, handle crazy parents for you, perform magic tricks for your kids for the
sole intention to entertain them. They
will cook you food, and clean up your mess, and teach you how to pretend like
you know what you’re talking about even when you don’t. They will have your back and wipe the dirt
off it when you fall. People are amazing
and if I forgot this, I found it again this summer.
·
How to hang a hammock- a truly underappreciated
art that becomes so valuable during the summertime.
·
How to safely and correctly jump off a 40-foot
cliff.
·
How to drive a golf cart
·
How to lead horses on a trail
·
How to coral horses that have gone buck wild on
a trail
·
How to make the best grilled cheese you have
ever eaten in your whole life
·
How to find and kill lice
·
Telling the difference between zits and impetigo
·
How to write a postcard
·
How to make a fire with no lighter fluid/fire
stick/or anything useful that would be helpful in lighting a fire
·
All of the following is flammable: rain jackets, bug spray, Nalgene water
bottles, and grass…also cars!
·
“Snack parties” are terrible ideas! Kids should never be allowed to eat whatever
they want in bottomless amounts.
This next bit is going to be a real
hodge podge because I honestly have no idea how to present all of my memories
from this summer. I am going to list
great things that happened this summer and if you would like to hear the full
story let me know and I will drone on until you’re bored with camp stories and
me for that matter.
·
I jumped off a 40-foot cliff in a rock quarry in
Fairview, TN. It was amazing and one of
the most exhilarating things that I have ever done.
·
I attempted to do a dive off a zip line and
failed miserably with a belly flop.
·
I rode horses every other day and have never
felt happier. I learned that they are
like big dogs and I determined that someday I will own one.
·
I danced my tush off at Marymount prom in a red
sequined dress that I have owned since the age of 6.
·
My campers wrapped me in an entire industrial
roll of toilet paper as punishment for using too many tissues.
·
I was flagpoled-an action consisting of the
entire cabin of eight-year-old girls sneaking out of the cabin at night to hang
my PANTIES on the flagpole for the entire camp to see.
·
I raised the flag 9 times, 5 times for having
the cleanest cabin.
·
I watched thirty minutes of one of my favorite
movies, Ferngully
·
I burnt countless numbers of hot dogs over a
makeshift fire and pretended they were gourmet for my girls
·
I ate a dish called “Dorito Diablo”. It was disgusting and I won’t be eating it
anymore.
·
My cabin got second place in Marymount’s version
of the old west gold rush.
·
I saw 4 snakes.
·
I hit the target in archery.
·
I signed my name on the archery range, the arts
and crafts hut, and my cabin.
·
I made new friends.
·
I had more Sonic cherry limeades than should be
legal
·
I made a slip and slide out of a very long tarp,
some body wash, and a hose
·
I captured a goat
·
I created counselor entertainment
·
I hosted a dating show
·
I used maple syrup as mouth wash
·
I plunged a toilet
·
I tried to tightrope a fence
·
I tore down a tree
·
I built a mini beach at the lake
·
I watched one of the greatest head counselors
camp has ever seen come and go
·
I had a great time!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
My summer in pictures:
4th of july fireworks over Lever Lake:
My sandal tan:
Map of camp:
"Fiddy" the goat:
Me and 3 of my best friends in the scoop of a bulldozer being driven around at dusk, our girls laughing on a hayride in the background:
A most fitting gas station sign in Nashville:
Flowers picked by my girls:
Barn party, the best yet:
A fire that iiiiiiiii built:
My name signed on my cabin on the my last day in it:
One of my favorite horses at camp, Tut:
The activity schedule:
The cliff I jumped off of at the rock quarry:
