And then I grew up. I was no longer a camper, no longer eligible to be a YCL. I went to college, got married, and eventually moved back to Seattle. For the 1st time in a long time, I could be back at camp, this time as a leader. I dropped not-so-subtle hints to the bishop that I loved camp, that I still knew all my knots and my injured person carries and my sucking chest wound treatments. And wouldn't you know it, it worked. I got to be a "Supermom" at Ensign Ranch, and I was only 6 years older than my charges.
The theme that year was Superheroes (thus being a Supermom). I was with the 4th years, a year very close to my heart. I wanted so badly to make their experience at camp as awesome as mine was. Camp in our stake is set up differently than any other that I'd been to yet (3 different stakes so far). There are 2 adult leaders paired up with each set of YCL's - so in our year, there were 4 YCL's and 4 adults. A bit much, I think, but the YCL's that are placed in each year are the Junior Youth Camp Leaders, so they're only 1 year older than the 4th years. The Senior YCL's are in their own group, planning camp and running it that week. I guess that's their incentive for getting the JYCL's to stay on for the following year.
I really loved being a leader at camp. It's a totally different experience getting up before everyone else, being the responsible one, being the one who has to walk all over camp all the time to get to all the meetings and firesides and meals and activities and then walk it again to go with someone up to the bathrooms (I didn't even realize how much I had walked until I got home and I was suddenly absolutely exhausted). I got to sing the songs and wear my beads and ride the horses and float down the river (it's a tradition in this stake to "baptize" people before they're allowed to swim in the river. They say a funny little poem and you get dunked. Sacrilegious, maybe? Oh, well. I thought it was fun). They also have the tradition of giving camp "names" to the YCL's and the leaders. Mine is "Professor." They give everyone a sweatshirt with their name embroidered on it. There are a lot of names that have to do with sunshine, singing, and sports. Mine is quite original.
I had a very profound moment on the slip n' slide that year at camp (I'm probably the only person who has ever had a profound moment on a giant tarp with a sprinkler attached to the top). One of the leaders from a different ward and I had really hit it off and we were scampering off to go on the slip n' slide with the girls. All of the sudden I had this vision in my head of me getting knocked over and hitting my head, hard. I told Susan that I was going to go on the canoes instead with some of the girls who needed a leader (good thing - 1 of the canoes had a hole in it and I had to rescue those girls from the leeches!). As I was heading back to the dock, dragging a waterlogged boat behind me, someone came running up and said, "Susan's been hurt!" A reckless little boy, camping there with his family, wasn't paying attention to the rules and went barreling down the slide just as Susan was standing up. He slammed into her legs and dislocated her knee. She had to have surgery on it. I knew that if I had gone on the slide, I would have gone down it next to her. I realized then that I would have been seriously hurt if I hadn't listened.
That year at camp was a much more spiritual experience for me than I had had in previous years. I was and continue to be inspired by our former Stake Young Women's President, who has the ability whenever she's talking, whatever she's talking about, to make me feel happy and grateful and important. It's an ability that I would love to have. I also felt like I had finally come full circle when it came to camp. I had been to so many as a girl, and to see the other side of it and how hard the leaders worked to make that week special made my memories that much sweeter. When my Supermom partner and I were heading home, I said, "You know, all our lives we've been told that we're the 'noble and great ones.' And yet, people still keep being born, so they must be nobler and greater." I think she thought I was fishing for a compliment or something because she said something about how great I was. I said, "I know. But I realized after spending the week with those girls, that so many of them get it. For some reason, when I was their age, I tried not to get it. I am grateful that I am trusted enough now to be their leader and to teach them." It's quite the responsibility and it's quite the privilege.
The theme that year was Superheroes (thus being a Supermom). I was with the 4th years, a year very close to my heart. I wanted so badly to make their experience at camp as awesome as mine was. Camp in our stake is set up differently than any other that I'd been to yet (3 different stakes so far). There are 2 adult leaders paired up with each set of YCL's - so in our year, there were 4 YCL's and 4 adults. A bit much, I think, but the YCL's that are placed in each year are the Junior Youth Camp Leaders, so they're only 1 year older than the 4th years. The Senior YCL's are in their own group, planning camp and running it that week. I guess that's their incentive for getting the JYCL's to stay on for the following year.
I really loved being a leader at camp. It's a totally different experience getting up before everyone else, being the responsible one, being the one who has to walk all over camp all the time to get to all the meetings and firesides and meals and activities and then walk it again to go with someone up to the bathrooms (I didn't even realize how much I had walked until I got home and I was suddenly absolutely exhausted). I got to sing the songs and wear my beads and ride the horses and float down the river (it's a tradition in this stake to "baptize" people before they're allowed to swim in the river. They say a funny little poem and you get dunked. Sacrilegious, maybe? Oh, well. I thought it was fun). They also have the tradition of giving camp "names" to the YCL's and the leaders. Mine is "Professor." They give everyone a sweatshirt with their name embroidered on it. There are a lot of names that have to do with sunshine, singing, and sports. Mine is quite original.
I had a very profound moment on the slip n' slide that year at camp (I'm probably the only person who has ever had a profound moment on a giant tarp with a sprinkler attached to the top). One of the leaders from a different ward and I had really hit it off and we were scampering off to go on the slip n' slide with the girls. All of the sudden I had this vision in my head of me getting knocked over and hitting my head, hard. I told Susan that I was going to go on the canoes instead with some of the girls who needed a leader (good thing - 1 of the canoes had a hole in it and I had to rescue those girls from the leeches!). As I was heading back to the dock, dragging a waterlogged boat behind me, someone came running up and said, "Susan's been hurt!" A reckless little boy, camping there with his family, wasn't paying attention to the rules and went barreling down the slide just as Susan was standing up. He slammed into her legs and dislocated her knee. She had to have surgery on it. I knew that if I had gone on the slide, I would have gone down it next to her. I realized then that I would have been seriously hurt if I hadn't listened.
That year at camp was a much more spiritual experience for me than I had had in previous years. I was and continue to be inspired by our former Stake Young Women's President, who has the ability whenever she's talking, whatever she's talking about, to make me feel happy and grateful and important. It's an ability that I would love to have. I also felt like I had finally come full circle when it came to camp. I had been to so many as a girl, and to see the other side of it and how hard the leaders worked to make that week special made my memories that much sweeter. When my Supermom partner and I were heading home, I said, "You know, all our lives we've been told that we're the 'noble and great ones.' And yet, people still keep being born, so they must be nobler and greater." I think she thought I was fishing for a compliment or something because she said something about how great I was. I said, "I know. But I realized after spending the week with those girls, that so many of them get it. For some reason, when I was their age, I tried not to get it. I am grateful that I am trusted enough now to be their leader and to teach them." It's quite the responsibility and it's quite the privilege.
Me and my beads
3 comments:
That is a perfect camp name for you and you are a perfect leader for the girls.
(I really cherish my camp names -- one from my growing up years and one from this stake -- Kaleidoscope and Paragon.)
I'm glad you listened to the prompting! You're an amazing gal.
Nice beads! And that face...WOW!
Everyone...don't you just love that face? She inherited it from her dad. Try kissing those lips. WOW. Bethany, you need to know I am sharing excerpts from your camp experience blog in YW's when I give the next lesson. Thanks for the inspiring words. MOM...
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