P(rogram) S(taff) I Love You

Hello readers!  Yes, I am still alive (mostly), still at camp (definitely), and still writing (kind of).  As you may have noticed, if you are still sticking around to read this here blog, I have missed posting during the entirety of the month of May.  That was not purposeful, and I wish I could have had been able to share the chaos of camp life with all of you, but it was truly a sprint of a month.  I figured if it came down to me or the blog, I should probably pick me, but thanks for sticking with me!

It's now June, which means one thing: my time as part of the school-year program staff has officially ended.  It's been nine months of growth, learning, challenge, and fun, and I can't believe I got to say that I worked at camp for almost a year.  I find myself not sure of what to say, or how to end what has been something that has truly made me so perfectly happy.  Soooo, I'm going to just try to cobble together some small part of what I've been given over the past nine months.

What I learned during my Program Staff year:

• It's always worth dropping everything to watch the sunset
• You can make creek paint by scraping together two wet pieces of shale
• Salamanders signify a healthy creek
• You can tell if a crawfish is a male if it has a white horseshoe shape on its abdomen
• You can fit up to 15 people on a 1ft x 1ft pallet of wood
• The best view in camp is from the top of the giant swing at high ropes
• You should always stop to look at any animals that come across your path (fish, deer, snakes, turtles, bluebirds, dogs, red-tailed hawks, and definitely freshwater jellyfish)
• Campfires can be good even if they're a total mess from start to finish
• Chocolate milk can create actual hysteria amongst children
• Banana cake is truly the world's perfect dessert
• Cutting down trees isn't always a bad thing
• The Nature Conservancy is made up of a group of absolute nerds, and I could infinitely listen to them talk about cool nature stuff 
• The ingredients of a perfect s'more: two marshmallows, two grahams, one square of chocolate, and patience
• There are no friends in toe tag
• Wildflowers are the perfect small source of joy in the everyday
• Canada Game should be an Olympic sport
• Back roads are the best roads
• Creek stomping is always a good idea
• The Life is Good store in town gives you a 10% discount if you mention you work at camp
• The "gloaming" period/golden hour is one of the best parts of the day
• Moon shadows are rare, real, and cool as heck
• Stickers make the water bottle
• If you can't make a no match fire, you don't get to ever brag about your firebuilding skills
• With a hammock, all of camp is your bedroom
• If you sit out in the middle of a field to watch the sunrise, you might get the cops called on you for being a "suspicious figure"
• Polar Plunge is a terrible idea, and yet simultaneously the best idea
• There is no bad place to publicly do a camp prayer
• Make friends with people in town because they are much cooler than you and they have great stories
• Chaco tans are a point of pride
• If you want to feel powerful, carry a walkie talkie around with you
• Nothing is more adorable than kids' misspellings of the word "counselor"
• Pizza from Big Woods is delicious (even 8 days in a row)
• Killick hitches (clove hitches) are super fun
• Go down the giant slip-n-slide, if only because it'll make a great story

Where I've seen God during my Program Staff year:

• A camp dog who is always happy to see you
• A clear night where you can see dozens of shooting stars and the Milky Way
• Friends who love you immediately and expect you to be yourself and no one else
• Sunsets that seem to contain hundreds of colors
• Spontaneous God hikes through monasteries in the middle of nowhere Kentucky
• Thunderstorms 
• Lead climbing during high ropes inspection
• The early morning rays of sun that peek through the fog
• Sitting around the fire at night and laughing
• Feeling the breeze as you lay in your hammock
• The kindness, intelligence, and earnestness of children
• The changing of leaves in the fall
• Getting to see rare orchids bloom on camp property
• Animal tracks after a fresh snow
• Watching the creek flow by after a rainstorm
• Driving through the hills on the way up SR 135
• Seeing kids conquer their fears
• The joy of discovery
• Affirmations: from colleagues, from kids, and from support people

I can't cohesively describe the multitudes of this year, but I did write lots of words, so we'll call it good.  I love you camp, thanks for always letting me be the best version of myself.

Announcement/foregone conclusion:  I mentioned on Instagram (@laurenmichelleowen wink wink) that I will be working at camp for the entire summer (yaaaaaas), but I haven't yet spread wide the news that I will in fact be continuing my work at camp for another school year.  I may not get a chance to blog as often as I would like this summer, but I promise the updates about cool animals, lessons from kids, and stories of me being weird have not ended.  You can't get rid of me yet, camp!