Well, so much for updating during my time at camp :) Not as if I had the time to anyway!
Such an amazing summer....
In a nutshell, I:
met 50+ amazing staff members
made so many new friends
got about a million bug bites
made a ton of bracelets
had dance parties and dance offs
looked nasty every day
was asked if i wanted to play connect the dots with my bug bites
got awesome tan lines
wore 80s workout leggings
walked at least a mile everyday
sat in rocking chair circles with friends
sat in a rocking chair with no one else around
watched real life bears from a mini-van
had a too close encounter with a real life bear while walking at 5:30 am by myself
-jumped over a deck rail
jumped off a cliff
sprinted the length of walmart parking lot just because
dried my hair under a hand dryer
played soccer barefoot
truly enjoyed sitting by myself for the first time
slept on a bed where the springs stabbed my ribs a little...
roadtripped with my best friend
watched lives change everyday
got tighter with Jesus
had awkward conversations with all kinds of people
gave honest answers to awkward questions
got kicked out of a park
ate Zaxby's chicken a LOT
taught kids to play soccer
gained a new perspective about life
learned that people i barely know can care the most
cried a lot
called mom more often
became ok with talking on the phone
won the "most outgoing" superlative
danced on stage a LOT
realized how lucky I truly am.
laughed till it hurt
acted really immature and loved it
missed home and my friends from home
broke a table doing the table clap
got thrown in the pool with my clothes on
danced to no music
drove a golf cart really fast
became more confident in myself
...and so much more...
Today is the first full day I've been home... and its been rough... I'm really missing some people from camp... a lot... It's hard to adjust from seeing people every second of the day to not knowing when you'll see them next-and even harder knowing that they are at least 8 hours away...
For those of you who are unaware, as amazing as this summer was for me, it was also a really rough time for me to be away from home. During week 2 of camp, I received a text from Tyler telling me that Paula Winkler had been diagnosed with AM Leukemia. Then, on Wednesday of week 3 of camp, I received a voicemail from my mom telling that my Aunt Cynthia (who was diagnosed with esophageal cancer in February) had gone into the hospital and was in critical condition. When I talked my mom the next day, she told me that it would only be a matter of days before my aunt passed away. Obviously, this hit me incredibly hard. For the remainder of camp, I called home almost everyday for updates. Miracles are so real... Today, over 3 weeks later, I got to go see my aunt at the Rehab facility where she's been staying. Things are still very much day to day, and the doctors aren't really sure of what's going to happen next, but I am SO incredibly thankful that Aunt Cindy has been such a trooper and held on this long. I have had so much to be thankful for this summer. Given the circumstances of me not being able to be home, I was surrounded by a wonderful support system of people who were strangers to me at the beginning of the summer. Those strangers came to be some wonderful friends to me who would just hug me, and listen to me, and just let me cry on their shoulders. Now, the goal: not losing contact with some of those people I got closest to... I can't do it... It's not realistic to expect contact with every single person I got close to, however, there's a few people I am not willing to let go of. Here's hoping.
