Are we there yet?

Most annoying question I know?

Are we there yet?

Yet I find myself often these days wondering just that...

Are we there yet?

Is it session #10?

Have I done the schedules?

Is it pizza time?

Is it bedtime?

Is it naptime?

Do I need to do observations or evaluations?

Can I be done?

Is it time for my next journey?

Is it time to pack up and move on from Camp Stonybrook?

Are we there yet?

What a crazy summer it has been...

I love Camp Stonybrook lots more than I thought I would.

I have laughed and bonded with new friends an awful lot this summer.

I have had so many good days and lots and lots of happy camper hugs.

Yet, I keep wondering... are we there yet?

Today I found this quote....

"Don't overlook life's small joys while searching for the big ones."

                                                -H. Jackson Brown

Today the storm clouds rolled in yet again... I was frustrated with people, I am EXHAUSTED.  Sometimes I really just want to scream... or cry... either would probably work.

Camp Stonybrook has been good to me. 

 I am so happy to have spent my summer here.

All the while missing the people and dreams I had to leave behind to be here. 

All the while dreaming of what is ahead.

"Don't overlook life's small joys while searching for the big ones."

Got it.

Courage does not always roar. Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying, 'I will try again tomorrow.'

                                                                                  -Mary Anne Radmacher

my REAL life

My real life at Camp Stonybrook....

We "shipwrecked" the dining hall and ate on the floor dressed as pirates.

Yes, this is my real life.

George.  Favorite camper of the summer.

Never heard a kid giggle like this girl... 

and she plays a MEAN game of Pokemon Capture the Flag.

The staff are INSANE.

Charms is from Wales.

She is INSANE.... but she loves it when I give her rides in the golf cart.

I think she hurt her foot on purpose so I could drive her around the rest of the summer.

(just kidding!)

Insanity, camp style.

This is my REAL LIFE.

... Living these moments

Current location: Camp Stonybrook (still)

It still messes me up sometimes that our camp sessions are only 4 days. So campers arrive on Sundays and Wednesdays and leave on Wednesdays and Saturdays... Really messes with my traditionally resident camp brain. None the less, after our closing campfire Tuesday night I was hanging out in the field looking at the amazing stars, watching the last of the summer's fireflies, and talking with my friend Link. Beautiful.

We made an agreement with each other that in the craziness that is summer camp, in the midst of the things that at times threaten to overwhelm us we want to enjoy these last few weeks at Stonybrook. Camp is lots of fun, we laugh a lot, we take ridiculous trips in our golf cart, and we talk about dumb things. We don't sleep much, we eat terribly, and we work hard not to say inappropriate things on the walkies. Camp is lots of laughs, but in our jobs it's not all fun and we have to deal with things we don't love.

Yet as we walk through these weeks... With lots of stress and campers to come we both want to remember to love these days, to laugh, to breathe, to smile.

So our commitment to that was sealed with joining the PA's for a roll down singing hill... Cause in our brains we are still young (but my bum shoulder clearly reminded me I am not!). Yesterday we laughed and sang loudly at campfire, today we tie dyed and drove the golf cart down crazy trails we probably had no business on! Tomorrow we'll... I don't know... But we'll laugh and love and breathe and smile... Cause if we don't have many days left in this magical place we want the ones we do have to count.

This session's inspirational quote says is best... "Sometimes you need to step outside, get some air and remind yourself of who you are and who you want to be."