I was outside on a blacktop in the heat of the day this afternoon, and do you know what thought crossed my mind? I thought about how thankful I am that I'm not a camp counselor!!! I want to kiss the air conditioned floor of my home and dance in my bug-free shower. Most people dream of their summer camp bliss, but I just see things like that as a nightmare. I am not saying this as a bystander who has no idea about camp life, but as a veteran counselor from that week from you-know-where. That's right...it took me a week of being a counselor to realize it was not for me.
First of all, I got to the camp and it was SUPER HOT. Air conditioning was nowhere to be found and I had to scrape gum off the gym floor with a plastic fork the first night. Not to mention everyone was ALWAYS in shorts and a tshirt!!! That is not the best look for me. I did not look cute at all and my 16 year old dreams of finding my future husband were thrown out the window. I had to clean out these lockers with scary animals living inside and was told I couldn't scream. It was like I was taken hostage. There was nowhere to run and screaming was against the rules.
I was told to go set up my bed in a tiny cabin that looked like it could collapse at any moment. A daddy long leg greeted me on my mattress and my eyes nearly popped out of my head. Why had everyone talked about how great being a counselor was?!?! I had yet to figure that out. Maybe when the kids arrived I would forget about the horror that had already ensued. But that never happened.
Each night I was forced to stay up till 2am in order to be the last one awake in the cabin. Bad breath ran ramped morning, noon, and night. The kids decided since their parents were gone, teeth brushing didn't have to happen. It was a nightmare. Along with many other things. I can't even talk about the bathroom or shower situation without crying, so I'm going to have to leave that part out.
There was one particular night when I was assigned to the barn for night activity. It was right after a break so the hay maze had not been cleaned out for a while. If you don't know what the hay maze is...let me fill you in with a little childhood flashback. I was at this particular camp when I was about ten years old when I decided to go to the barn because I had heard it was fun. The people I talked to CLEARLY had a different definition of fun than I did. You could milk a disgusting cow or ride a dangerous zip line into a bail of unsanitary hay. You could also choose to go through a hay maze that promised joy and fun for all.
The hay maze is so small that you have to get on your belly at times to fit through. It is pitch dark with so many ways to get lost. Not to mention there are bugs everywhere ready to crawl inside your clothes for dinner. I was NOT a happy camper!!! I remember this panicked feeling when I got lost in the dark maze and I tried to go a different way and the maze COLLAPSED on me. I was stuck in pitch black with all these hay bails around me and I couldn't move. I was stunned in the worst sense.
Flash forward to my summer as a counselor and there I was standing before my biggest terror yet again. "Abby, go put candy throughout the maze" my boss said to me. "Look at all these boys around, can't they do it?!". Let me remind you that there had been a summer break and spider webs were lining the entry and It hadn't been cleaned in about two weeks. All the boys looked terrified and said there was no way they were gonna do it! They ran off leaving me with an angry head counselor. As tears filled my eyes I said "FINE!!!!!!!" and stormed to the entrance. I was not by any means on my best Christian behavior. Camp brings out the heathen in me.
I remember crying so hard as I got on my belly and crawled through that dark maze feeling the spiders webs get caught in my hair with every turn. I felt like that 10 year old child again and I was so afraid the hay maze would fall on me. I have yet to find the fun till this day. As I came out of the maze everyone looked at me really shocked. Apparently there was not one inch of me that was not covered in spider webs or tears.
Did I mention what my job was during the day? I was stationed at fun swim at the top of this zip line. I had to stand on a platform that waved side to side in the breeze really high in the air. I pulled that zipline up for four hours a day and got a huge muscle that was just frightening. Everything was frightening.
Luckily the Lord used me anyway in some of the kid's lives. I even got letters for a few years from some of them about what a great counselor I was. If only they really knew.
Just a little post to make me feel thankful for where I am. I am SO glad I'm not one of the many college kids having "fun" at camp this summer.
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