whoa! here it comes!

There is so much to say and not enough time to write it all! I'm due to move some of my stuff into my new place within the hour (depending on when I receive a series of phone calls) so this is not exactly the best time to try to talk about the last two weeks of life. There is much learning going on and much to be learned! I'll update soon...

another week of miraculous...and the last one starts tomorrow

Well, it seems that it's all winding down. Tomorrow, I will head into the last week of the summer 2008 season at Lions Camp, and no doubt my final week ever at those 440 acres of heaven, save for a volunteer opportunity here and there in my "grown up life." It's hard to imagine that I've spent four entire summers at that place, approximately 48 weeks of my life, serving children of special needs and giving them the experience of a lifetime, each summer for little pay but endless rewards in the end. And it's even harder to fathom that my career there will no doubt end on Thursday. Most of me feels ready to say goodbye a final time, yet I fear that the final drive away from camp, whether it be Thursday night or Friday morning, will no doubt be sentimental and very nostalgic. The summers I spent at camp were so formative to these critical years in my life. It was at camp that I, in 2004 an awkward 18-year-old, was able to break out of my shell and attempt to provide a unique and memorable camping experience for each child I met. Camp has done so much for me; sometimes I tell myself that camp has given me so much more than I could have ever done in return. In part because of camp, I feel I've grown in confidence, maturity, problem solving, professionalism, the list goes on. Because of the 440-acre bubble, I feel I've in some part been prepared to face the "real world" and all its challenges head-on. Of course, there have also been practical lessons - I've finally learned how to properly use a plunger (long, disgusting story), drive a tractor, and speak to complete strangers on a telephone. Yet I feel the emotional and professional lessons strongly outweigh any of those practical tools I now have because of camp. It is 440 acres of frustrating, anxiety-producing, tearjerking wonder. But it is also 440 acres of unforgettable lessons and memories that will certainly be difficult to leave. In the camp office, a place I frequent multiple times each day, there is a poster on the back of one of the doors with a quote I've tried to take to heart for the past two summers. The gist of the quote is this, re-worded a bit for simplicity's sake: "I expect to pass through this world but once; any good thing therefore that I can do, or any kindness that I can show to any fellow creature, let me do it now; let me not defer or neglect it, for I shall not pass this way again. " - Ettiene De Grellet