Seriously, I'm not Dead

Although I may feel like I am.

I just saw that it has been about three months since I have written. It has been that long because so much has happened! I cannot possibly recount every detail (to the thanks of all) but I will say the following of the last three months.

The hiking trip was great. That was probably one of the physically hardest things I have ever done in my life. I trudged up and down along the spine of ... I believe it was White Mountain but I could be totally wrong... with about fifty pounds on my back. It was a true test of will power against my own body. I met lots of interesting people, one of whom I still have contact with, although not on a regular basis as she and her boyfriend are thru-hiking the trail. I met another fellow whose trail name was Stinky that was also thru-hiking with nothing more than a day pack and Chocos. I'm thinking the next time I go, I'll take a lesson from Stinky and lighten my load... a lot. I packed way too many clothes; I let personal hygiene get in the way of my moving much faster. When Daddy and I got off the trail, we were picked up by a hiker woman. She drove like a maniac first of all so I was surprised that we didn't die on the way back to the car. (The whole car ride I could just see the headlines "First Time Hikers Survive Trail but Not Shuttle") In talking with her, our huffing and puffing was a "leisurely" pace. I am not so sure what was leisurely about our trip, but I apparently missed it. We took a few days to recover and then drove back home.

A few weeks later, I departed for Cape Cod, which is where this post is coming from. I arrived at camp about seven hours late due to weather related delays and was almost immediately put into a middle management supervisory position. So I spent the majority of the first few weeks figuring out what camp was all about exactly, making it run from day to day, and keeping the chaos somewhat controlled. After about three weeks, I got the hang of it. This job has been a learning experience for me, because I have never been in a supervisory role before this one. Or at least, not one in which I'm supervising my peers. I think I managed alright; I still don't think I commanded respect from all of my staff. Most of them were just finished with their first year of college and brand new staff too so they had lots of questions and needed so much guidance. I couldn't give them as much as they wanted simply because I didn't know what I was doing either. I felt like I was expected to be the Great and Powerful Oz with all the answers, but I had none. However, we stumbled through the summer, made our mistakes and fixed them. I think overall the kids had a great time and learned about Jesus along the way, which was our purpose.

I am leaving camp in t-minus two hours. It is a bitter sweet departure. I am SO ready to go home, but at the same time I leave a job that I feel I didn't do my best. I did the best I could with what I was given-- a hard-working staff and patient supervisors-- and that's all I can ask of myself. I will arrive back in Texas on Wednesday and back in my hometown on Thursday. I plan to move into my new apartment sometime next weekend and THEN and only then will I finally be home.