Learning

I have the day off today, and I was sitting here waiting for everyone else to get ready so we can go out for b'fast at the Trackside and I started to think about the past couple days and what has been happening. I also realized I haven't been updating this thing as often as I should, but I am going to try harder. Anyway, yesterday I woke up early and because we didn't have morning meeting I was able to sit in the adirondack chairs and read so much of my book. It was absolutely amazing. One of my very favorite places on camp! And then the day began...it was Aquarama, which is almost one of my very favorite days. It's chill and I love to run around and go on the water rides with my girls. Except today was not going to be that kind of day at all. One of my counselors was moved from the bunk and for a while there it was looking like she would go home. I was very upset because she could be a great camp person if she was in the right place here--a healthy, safe place for her, which Bunk 15 was not. I won't go into reasons on here, but suffice it to say that I was upset and Marjori told me I could go hide out for the morning. So I rode around on the golf cart with Drew and then hung out in his office until lunch. After lunch I was feeling a little bit better and I was able to play with some of my girls before jumping back into the fray with the counselor again. I felt like I was standing underneath the other shoe about to drop on my head all afternoon--and then she said she was staying! That put me in a great mood and my Bunk 14 girls made it even better. I have decided that they are the ones that cheer me up when I'm feeling like I don't know why I come back to do this job. Don't get me wrong, it's amazing and unique and worth it and all those colorful adjectives, but it is also extremely HARD sometimes. I realized yesterday that I had lost sight of what they tell us in Leadership week--when you feel like you can't do it anymore, go play with the girls that you love, who don't have drama going on all the time, and who love you back and are excited to have you around. I got to do that yesterday with Bunk 14 and it made my entire week. They made me a bracelet, they wrote the best campaign song to get Drew for Male Beauty, and we had fun. After that I was sufficiently ready to go back into 15 and be their counselor for the evening. I sat in there and we read a chapter of The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants and they went to bed. I was there until almost 11:20, when their other counselors got back.

Looking back on yesterday, I think I learned--or relearned, I guess, which I think I am constantly doing in my life--that I need to ask for help and not be bothered that I can't do everything, that I need to focus on the girls who don't need something every second just as much as the high-maintenance ones, and that I really and truly love Bryn Mawr! Ok, the last one I didn't really need to relearn, but it is definitely in my thoughts.

I wish my entire family could come here and see just how special this place is. It is hard for those looking in to understand--you need to experience it, to meet everyone here. I was interviewed for the Poplar Post by one of my former campers from the past 2 summers the other day, and she asked if I was going to stay until I got my Angel. That will be next summer, summer number 5 for me. And I said of course I would, but after yesterday, I know there is no way I couldn't come back. My time at Bryn Mawr is far from over, and that also makes me happy.