3, 2, 1, fly!

remember when i said sometimes i get to sit and wait for things that need doing? this is what needed doing last camp:

for the past 3 summers look up lodge has been blessed with the presence of a camper named Christina. she is no ordinary camper. she has the beautiful spirit and gratefulness of a person beyond her 12 years. she has also suffered a very physically difficult life. she is mostly in a wheel chair because she is lacking the majority of her legs. but sometimes you will catch her walking on her hands from place to place.

last year we successfully harnessed her to the zip line, which she loved.
this year, her request was to ride the giant swing. seen below:

 

because of her proportions, this was no simple task. (unless you have done this before, then it would be). i have a little experience in special setups for participants with special needs from my other camp work, but thankfully my friends in the industry have more.

after trying a few things with the equipment that we had on hand, we decided it would be a no go for Saturday, but we would go back to the drawing board and see what else we could come up with.

with the permission and credit card of the executive director, we bought a new harness. and with the permission from the recreation director from another camp, we borrowed some daisy chain.

 

and at about 3pm on Sunday we set out to try again.

after harnessing up in the new harness and some extra strapping to help support her torso. Christina was secured to the swing ready to give it a try.

with the extra support of her counselor trey and her step mom with arms locked behind her, we attached them to the winch and began the ride.

much to the joy of those watching and especially to the joy of Christina and her step mom, the ride was a success! and Christina shouted with joy and proclaimed “this is awesome!”

there is also a video here

 

once the ride ended and we unhooked everyone from the swing, Christina hugged and thanked each of us that were working the swing that day multiple times.

and again we are all reminded of why we do this thing from day to day.

some days around here are pretty typical, even mundane, but this day was not that. this day, as Christina said, "was awesome."

 

hey kid, i can take your money

my primary job in the summer is running the camp store. (currently referred to as the canteen, but we are open to new names if you have any bright ideas)
in this store we sell candy, drinks, slushies, and various souvenirs.

part of my job is deciding what we sell, with the approval of my supervisor of course. this is part of what i do during the school year. i research products and t-shirt designs and try to keep an eye on what the kids are wearing these days. then i get to work with a few companies that order things for me. and sometimes i get to use my dormant artistic abilities to design things.

day to day in the summer running the canteen looks like this:
morning
- check stock
- replenish what needs replenished
- place food/drink orders if needed
- place merchandise orders if needed
afternoon 
- check in with staffer working the store for afternoon free time
- restock if needed
- move a whole lot of crates of the pepsi delivery into the store room
evening
- restock before we open at 9pm or so
- clean the slushie machines
- sweep the floor

night
- oversee the running of the canteen while the entire camp can come through for a late night snack or souvenir
- take money from people (i refer to call it taking money from people, rather than checking out people)
- restock after a couple hundred people have come through with the help of the staffers
- count money
- enter some info into the computer

the tasks are rather easy to me. i think running a store fits my particular skill set pretty well. it's working behind the scenes, keeping things organized, designing things from time to time, counting money, etc. although the tasks can get a little monotonous, i enjoy this part of my job a lot.

although i have plenty of water bottles from lost and found, i still like the one my boss and i designed with the little circles. maybe someone will lose one.

yes, i am the one responsible for this display organization. the staffers hate me for it.

the slushie machines. i like to think of them as the bane of my canteen existence. they make everything sticky if not well cared for. but what is fun about them is you can put any beverage in them to be slushed as long as there is sugar in it.

finding an affordable quality teddy bear was really difficult. who knew?

but the squirrels were a great find!

this design is from a sketch i gave the t-shirt guy. it's definitely my fave this year.

snacks. lots of them.

this kind of give you an idea of the size of the store.

this is the view from the front door.

you can see a kid splashing into the lake on the zip line if you look close.

this is the view last night at sunset. the picture doesn't do it justice.

so what exactly is it that you do?

that's a good question i guess. since working at a camp i have often been asked, what is it that you do? it's not summer, how much could there be to do? it is summer so you must be a cabin counselor.

well let me tell you, there are many things to do and many ways to do them. and i have never been an employed cabin counselor at a camp.

i will be the first to admit, some days there isn't that much heavy lifting to be done. and some days my job consists of just being here in case something happens. and some days you work 14 hours without stopping to sit down other than to eat in the dining hall full of people and noise. but i think it all balances out. you learn to take the light days when they come because inevitably there will be a 14 hour day in your future.

some days it consists of having the leader for the group using the camp ask you to ambush their rec team with water balloons because they have been doing it to everyone else. which you gladly do and then spend the rest of the morning soaking wet. but to the average camp worker, those days are the best days.

some days it consists of having talks with your college age employees (while making bracelets) about what they should do with their lives and how they should get there.

some days it consists of crying in your office because you reach your limit. what limit, i'm not really sure. but some limit and you just need to cry. maybe too many 14 hr days in a row. maybe it seems no one on staff hears you. they may listen, but they don't hear you. maybe you hit your shin on that same box that you hit it on 5 times already today but haven't taken the time to move. maybe it has nothing to do with work.

some days it consists of moving 6000 t-shirts. actually that was just one day at the beginning of summer. but who knew how heavy a box of t-shirts could be?

some days you love it.

some days you search the internet for places to run away.

and some days you just aren't sure why you are here.

but then you hear a story. from some adult or older teenager. and they tell you about how camp changed their life. how that summer at that camp made a lasting difference to them. so no matter what your job at that camp, each part plays a role in shaping the experience of each camper. so some days you may wonder what you are doing as a grown person working at some job that has you doing who knows what. but alas, the camp experience changes lives.

i do not think i am a lifer in the camp industry (i could be wrong), i dont really think im a lifer in any industry, but this is where i am right now. if i were not meant to be here, i would be somewhere else. so until that somewhere else presents itself, this is where i will be.

some days working long hours, so long that you forget what day it is. some days sitting around waiting for something to need doing.

but what exactly do we do? we change lives. for worse or better. that's what we do.

(if you are curious as to what i actually do day to day, hour to hour, no worries, i will begin chronicalling that in my next post)

the world wide web

thanks to our IT guy the internet in the nearest camp building now reaches my house across the expanse of the maintenance field.

this is the lovely view from my front porch. the dreary day adds to its loveliness : )

the internet comes from the little grey building

i have a phone through which i have done all of my home interneting the past year and half, and it hasnt been that bad at all. but. this is better.

and faster.

and i dont have to tether anything and connect anything. it's just there. waiting to be used.

so i will likely blog more regularly.

and probably purchase music and books i dont really need.

i am considering getting netflix. but i am hesitant because i have enjoyed life without easy access to even network television for the past 4 years. but, im not an addict anymore so maybe it would be fine to try it out.

any thoughts or suggestions on this? is netflix worth $10 a month?

either way, im still pleased to have the blessing of free wireless internet brought to me from the maintenance building.

what to write?

i started this blog primarily to write about the trip to israel per the request of family and dear friends. and as it turns out i like blogging. i never wanted to, but i do.


i am done routinely writing about israel. (i can't promise it will never come up again) so what should i write about?

thoughts, suggestions, smart remarks?

i have a few ideas floating around.

but what do you, my reader want to read about? mom, dad, ma, aunt kris this means you. because you are the only ones that comment : ) so what do you want to know about my life?

and since i like having pictures on this i will leave you with this from the 4th of july in OH. thank maggs! for my new fave picture of myself.