I spent a majority of my 1998 summer working at Girl Scout camp. I spent the first month, from June 8th to July 9th, at Pine Creek Ranch located in Shoup, ID. Shoup is a small town about an hour and 15 mins. outside of Salmon which has a population of 2. :) Yep it was a happening place out in the middle of the forboding wilderness. I experienced a lot of things while I was there including a night out in the great outdoors with nothing besides the clothes on my back, almost being bucked off my horse, and going backpacking with 24 girls... It was some of the most invigorating and growing moments of my life but at the same time, some of it was some of the most challenging and frustrating things I've ever lived through. I had to eat everything that was placed in front of me- including hot dog soup, coleslaw :(, and many cooking experiments which involved the previous night's leftovers. But I need to focus on the fact that I survived this wilderness, the freezing cold, the nearly deadly accidents, the food, and the attitudes; I learned in one of the most primitive situations I've ever faced ( oh there was no electricity besides a gas generator and no flush toilets) who I truly am and the strength underneath it all which I can posses. I even learned how to be defeated, accept it, and move on. I learned what it meant to be human.
So, you ask why are you telling me all this?? Why are you revealing yourself and your many lessons. I don't know is my answer to that. I must say that I know that for me I get a whole lot more out of discussing things in an open manner with either friends or to myself in journal form. But I think there is a lot of things that happened this summer that I just need to get out. A lot of the people that I meet think that when I say I was a girl scout camp counselor that all I did this summer was play with kids, smile and laugh. And although I would love to say that this is what happened.... it's not. It was a much more intense and realistic eye-opening experience for me. I did laugh but I did cry.. in fact I had a little emotional breakdown in the lobby of the waiting room at the Salmon health center. Not a lot of people can say this has happened to them. But at the same time I climbed a mountain, and helped 24 other girls climb up that same mountain and achieve a personal goal which they were sure wasn't possible. I've never had to grow up so much and be so responsible for everyone else. I many times had to sacrafice my own comfort for that of others. IT was the ultimate expanse of LIFE all in one little summer.
Oh, I quess I should also tell you about my July experience. I spent July 13th through August 10th in McCall, Id at Camp Alice Pittenger. This camp is right next to the lake and has a lot of water based activities. I recieved a promotion once I got to this camp and was upgraded to the position of unit leader instead of just being a camp counselor. This position gave me a whole lot more responsibility for my group and put me in charge of that group. It was a nice feeling to know that I'd done a good enough job at Pine Creek to be given this opportunity... but of course that didn't mean that I was free of mistakes and excitement. I would go on to have my tent collapse, have a child bite me (yes, I said I had one of my campers bite my arm :} ),also break my toe, and loose a loved one. This wasn't the end of my life at camp though... I still have those happy moments which I will always remember including my tippy tests(when you just out of a canoe, jump back in, and then tip it on top of yourself), my girls' hugs and warm fuzzies, my friends, letters from friends, the sun setting over Payette Lake, and the look of admiration that I got from a girl when I had done something that had helped her out, whether it be fixing an ouch or just helping them over a little bit of homesickness.
So, that's that... that's my camp experience in a nut shell. It was truly the best of times and the worst of times all rolled up into a little 2 month and 2 day vacation from my little protected shell of comfort. I learned, I loved, I hated, I smiled, I cryed, I yelled, I comforted, I sung (and sung, and sung), and I lived.... my god did I live! home