Today has been a busy day. I had some lab work done, went to Wed am bible study, met my dear husband and his work buddies for lunch, talked to my mom, then my sister, and then my daughter. To top all of that excitment off, I received an email from a dear, dear, friend Adam Hill (who is my daughter's friend really - but I love that guy to pieces!). He has invited me to spend a week with him at Camp Wabashi in Terre Haute, IN. It is the same church camp that my kids went to when they were in junior high. In fact, I think we may have spent three or four summers at this camp.
Back then one of the session directors was the preacher at our church (Don McLaughlin) and it was the responsiblity of the director to find cooks for the session. Janet Cunningham came up to me one year and asked if I was interested in a week's free vacation complete with all the food I could eat and airconditioned surroundings. She hooked me in and then hit me with, "Oh! Did I mention that we will be cooking for 100 kids? Yeah. Seriously.
Well, Don found the rest of his team and I, along with 5 other ladies, cooked for 100 junior high kids for a week. It was the best week of the whole summer. Some of my absolute favorite memories are of my week at camp with those fabulous ladies (yes, Rubie Luallin, Janet Cunningham, Sheree Hill, Anita Carpenter, and I - took a glorious picture in our matching Walmart muumuu's one year. I still have it and am holding it as blackmail money for my retirement years!)
I could go on and on about Yuck Night, the mud pit, watching Brad Prince breakdance to Carmen, or was it the NewsBoys? I still chuckle when I remember watching all of the campers eyes when I dumped a 5 pound bag of flour on the head of one unsuspecting Don McL. Priceless! Yes, I think there was some payback, but it was worth every moment.
What is it that makes these moments in time so memorable? Could it be the people, the insufferable heat, the less-than-gourmet food, the mosquito bites, the sweat, the tears, the laughs, the kids, the friends, the singing, the ring-wearing-spike-collared-gothic-clothed kids that came through the line on day one but by day five had reverted to dumping the rings, the spikes, the black, and were happy, laughing, joking, normal acting kids. We watched them dump some of their anger, their gang-crap clothing, and learn that we liked them for who they were on the inside. It was amazing. I love kids. I love camp. I love the way God works in different ways to reach different people. He uses all of us in some way and I cannot wait for July!
CAMP WABASHI - - HERE I COME!!!!!!
3 comments:
hey aunt cynthia!
adam told us today about you coming for the camp. im pretty sure i am going to be a junior counselor at it and colleen is wanting to go to it. it will be a lot of fun :DD
i love you!
Brings back SO MANY memories! if I wasn't expecting a back 6 weeks later I would love to be a counselor...yes, that is right, if you haven't heard already...here comes number 3! I think I better stay home this year, although he might tempt me in the years to come to be a cook...I would get to leave the kids with James right?! Hahaha
You are going to have so much fun. You ought to talk Judy into taking off a week and joining you! That is all those poor campers (I mean directors) need, the 2 of you ganging up on them!
Karen - I think that will be awesome!!!! I was hoping you and Colleen would be there. Tim asked if there was something for him to do and we could just make it a vacation for both of us. I told him he could be the nurse. He said he didn't know anything about nursing but he sure could dial 911!
Robin: Yeah, I thought about Judy too. We would rock the house,that's for sure. I checked out your blog and it's great. Your little Gavin sounds precious. Good luck with the potty training.
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