Camp and Such

I guess a year is the perfect amount of time to forget exactly how exhausting working camp can be! I had a wonderfully full, exciting, exhausting, and long week, starting last Friday, when we lost power for nine hours due to a tree falling on the power line. That was a bit frustrating, since I wasn't really able to get anything done to prepare for leaving my cabin for almost a full week. I went to bed early, but didn't get much sleep since I was worried about missing my alarm. Saturday morning started with an early morning cleaning job at the Resort, and then I went back to shower, do my hair, and pack for camp. I headed out midday, and made it to St. Cloud around 3:30, at which point I met up with Jordan Craig Wetter for a late lunch at Applebee's, and a couple of hours of hanging out and catching up. Then it was down to Cottage Grove for Seth's wedding reception (a good friend of mine from SCSU), which was a lot of fun. I didn't really know very many people, but I stayed until 12:30, dancing and talking to those folks that I did know. I spent the night at my aunt Tesa and uncle Paul's house, since Joe and Scott (a cousin on my mom's side) were having their grad party down there on Sunday. We had wonderful weather for the party, and it was fun to see everyone, especially my newest cousin, who has changed a bunch since I saw him last (and his sister, who came with me on an adventure to find hand sanitizer for the outhouse). I had to be back at school by 5:00 to kick off camp, and that drive took over two and a half hours because of the road work on I-94. I finally made it up there, and thus began the craziness that is a camp for 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders. I was a lead counselor this year, which meant that I didn't have my own group of girls, but instead I was in charge of all 60 girls and their counselors. I had a cohort, Beth, and we both agreed that while it was fun, we don't want to do it again. We'd rather have our own groups, and have someone else worry about all of the nitty-gritty details. (And the staying up until 2:45am doing laundry. And the sleeping on the floor outside of one of the campers' room because she was so homesick.) It was an exhausting couple of days, days that I only made it through with the help of massive amounts of caffeine, but it was also a fun couple of days. I met (and re-met) ten great women, who were the counselors, and I met a lot of great girls that I hope to run across again some day. After the girls left, the counselors headed out for pizza and talking and laughing before splitting off for either home or wherever we were spending the night. Since my drive was so long, I chose to spend the night at St. John's, which was fun. I got to go see Karen, who has been there for two weeks at her own camp, and see a few people that I've been missing. Jordan and I both fell asleep around 10:30, which was crazy because I had a TON of energy when I got there, and pretty much slept through the night. Yesterday, I got up, visited two more friends, got my hair cut, picked up a few things, deposited my check, and headed back up here. I'm still running low on sleep; I think I could have slept all day today and been happy, but it's been nice to get back to work. I'm up here now until August.... And I'm going to stop writing now, because this post has been full of different things, and because I'm tired. Love y'all!