Update Time! (Camp)

Alright guys, so it's been a few weeks since I've been here. So much for blogging my camp experience semi-regularly here on Gather, huh? Boy has it been crazy. I spent the majority of the time without internet in general and what time I did have was in 5-15 minute time slots -- which, of course, on a slow net connection, is just enough time to open my email and maybe possibly return one....two if I'm lucky and they're short, lol.

But I'm here for the next half hour or hour max and thought I'd take a little bit of it trying to get some updates out. I'm really not sure how to even do it because I have lots of little mini-stories to tell. For now, I'll give you the gist of what's going on and then I'll tell some of the cute stories afterwards.

In general, camp is pretty much sucking right now. This is my third time around and some of the stuff was expected, but for the most part, this is not the job I'm used to. The program I've been a part of has always been a bit hectic because we're not part of the main camp, but we're not part of the support staff or anything either. They sorta just do whatever with us and we go with it. It takes a few days to get settled in and then there are speed bumps along the way, but most times it's not a big deal.

This year, I only have three kids (now....I did have a couple more part-time ones but one got bumped up into the main camp even though she's only 6 and the other went home when her mother quit).  I was thinking "three kids...great!...even if they're nightmares (which they couldn't be any worse than the little demons I've had before), then it should be okay." Yeah, not so much. Within a few days, I was pulled into the office with the owner of the camp (whom I've only talked to a couple times and never on a serious basis...he floats around camp, but there's no reason for us to really chit chat)....um, not cool, especially considering it was because of a person whose kid I didn't even have, ha. That was four weeks ago and I'm over it now (too much has happened since then to stay hung up on that), but at the time, it was rather mind-rattling. Shattering, really.

Beyond that, little things kept happening. Just as soon as we thought everything was okay, we were having great days, and we didn't think we could possibly be doing anything wrong -- something else would happen. Oh great! Almost every day, something new would pop up, mostly things that shouldn't even be issues but for some odd reason suddenly were. It was a huge, frustrating roller coaster. And none of it had to do with our kids, ha! The kids are pretty good....one is a real handful, but I don't want to say too much given whose kid he/she is. That's what makes it even more bothersome, but I'll deal -- I always do.

As my mom always tells me when things are rough, "just dress nice and smile pretty." And trust me, every night we have off (even if only for a couple hours), we're dressed in non-uniform and down at the bar that the busses drop us off at (or we drive down to). Even if we don't drink, it's a matter of getting away and saving what tiny bit of sanity that we pretend to have left!