Is it a sign?

Sad story, I didn't get to go to the Army Surplus store. Instead I had an amazing and much needed hour massage. If I had to do it over again I would still pick the massage. Pocket knives will be there, but an amazing restful hour of getting the knots out of my back by a train professional...priceless. Well it actually cost me $40, but still...you know.

Another tragic (but foreseen) thing happened today. I think my Mac died. The screen had been flickering for awhile now. Over the retreat it took on a whole new meaning of flickering by changing into every color of the rainbow. I didn't mind at first because I felt like I was back at Disneyland watching the laser show anticipating which color would next flash across my computer screen. Now it won't even turn on. "How am I then writing to you?" you ask. Well there is a community computer the camp provides that I jumped on to report the sudden death of my beloved Mac. I would like to say a few final words about my Mac. It was a good Mac. I bought it in 2005 with my high school graduation money. Which I sent Thank You cards to every person that donated to the fund. Mac, you served me well. From procrastinating speeches, to late night portfolio fixes, you were always there for me without fail. Now tomorrow as I go to the Mac store in Portland, don't think of this as good-bye, or me replacing you. Think of it as TTFN (ta-ta for now), as Tigger would put it. You go on to a better place (EBay).

I take this as a sign that I was indeed in fact suppose to use my teacher discount at the Mac store before September 7th. I had finally given up and got over that bummer fact that I would wait till next year to purchase a new computer. But my now Mac gave up its computer life so I could have better. Thank you Mac, you will always and forever be remembered. Speaking of remembering, I would also like to give a shout out to my first car Dolores. Dolores you 1999 periwinkle Ford Taures SE, where ever you are, I miss you. I think of you every time I pass another Taures, even though you are not with me, you are in my heart.

I found out today that campers don't actually come till Thursday, so as I stated before I will be going to Portland to get a new Mac, tour around the city, and take Mango to the airport (in that order). Tomorrow I shall bloggeth from my new laptop. Yippie!

Retreat

So the retreat has been a lot more packed than I had originally thought. I apologize for my tardiness with the blogging my 5 faithful few followers. We are at a beautiful resort town outside of Bend, called Sun River. It reminds me of my childhood days when the game night crew would all pitch in to rent a big house that seemed to fit a million people so we could enjoy the skiing and the good company. 

The house was suppose to come with 11 bikes, there were 2. Luckily, Grasshopper thought ahead and brought 4 from camp. The downside was we were not able to complete out all staff bike ride. There are paved paths that loop around the "resort city" as I call it. My first adventure was a bike ride with Mango to check out the little shops. For those of you that know me well know that I am not fond of bike riding unless it includes a rather large gel seat for my tush; needless to say there was no gel what so ever on the seat. Dang you boys mountain bikes with your non existent seats! 

Everyone was scheduled to make a meal for the rest of the gang during our 2 day retreat. Mango and I made breakfast this morning. I called Mom up to get her amazing "monkey bread" recipe. The original recipe calls for a bunt pan to make the magic happen, but i forgot to check to see if we had one at camp. So I was forced to pull a remix and do without a bunt pan, it turned into monkey bread in a brownie pan. I was nervous but low and behold it turned out great! Everyone loved it and I breathed a big sigh of relief. To accompany the monkey bread, we also supplied ingredients for breakfast burritos. I was in charge of making the hash browns because Mango is from an island where hash browns apparently don't exist. 

Today I also went on a girls trip into Bend with Mango, Blizz, Hushpuppy, and Poppy to check out some stores. We found a used book store where I purchased "A Separate Peace" for $5. My high school English teacher should feel very accomplished because I read the book in high school and remembered liking it so much I bought it all over again. Can I tell you what the book was about? Nope. Not a clue. But I guess that is a good reason to re-read it. 

Tomorrow afternoon we head back to camp. To get ready for new campers on Wednesday. On the way home we are stopping at an Army surplus store. Everyone is super excited, I'm not exactly sure I have been to one before. I expect to see a lot of camouflage, guns, and mullets.  Also, I'm pondering getting a pocket knife, not one of those red Swiss Army ones, but a Leatherman or some single blade thing the folds out. I know that is a vague description, but you know what I mean. In a nutshell, something that has a safety lock so I don't slice myself. 

All in all, the retreat has been wonderful. I'll miss the awesome hot tub conversation and frequent showers that I don't have to walk outside to a bathhouse to take. Most of all I feel like I have better bonded with the staff and directors. Two thumbs way up!

P.S. As I re-read though my post I see that I said "on the way home," during prayer tonight I said "Lord, I thought I didn't have family in Oregon....I was wrong." These people have opened their arms, homes, and lives to me. They are a true blessing from God.

Nonverbal Love

This past week I fell "in love" with a camper. I know from taking A LOT of Education classes that you are not suppose to have a favorite student, but I'm making an exception. His name is Vernon. Which was weird at first because I have a Grandpa Vernon. He is nonverbal but is very expressive through his sound effects, hand gestures, and emphatic high pitched "YEPS." For example, I always knew when he wanted me to sit next to him because he would slap the chair very loudly next to him until I was in the seated position by his side. Every morning when he saw me he would point to his eyes and then his tent and chirp loudly as to show me that he slept in that tent every night.

My favorite moment with Vernon happened on a walk down the gravel road of camp. Let me back up. From the first day I met Vernon whenever he wanted me to go somewhere with him he would grab my arm to link it with his. We constantly looked like we were in a wedding together walking around camp arm and arm. On Wednesday, Vernon decided we should take a walk. He took the lead of course putting my arm through his. As we walked he all of a sudden started holding my hand, not just holding my hand, but interlocked our fingers together. I teared up thinking to myself, "how did he know?," how could he have possibly known that I needed a real handhold at that very moment? I looked down at his wrinkly hand locked perfectly into mine, and knew my heart was gone. He said nothing and probably thought nothing of it, but it was the most perfect handhold at the most perfect time. A picture I will never forget.

Vernon also surprised me the last night at the dance. I was trying to get him to dance with me. He would just wave his arms, make an "X". As if to say "are you crazy woman! NO WAY JOSE!" I finally left him alone till the last song of the night. (to tell you the truth I felt rejected that my favorite camper would not allow me ONE dance.) As if he knew it was the last song, he humored me and got up and danced with me. He spun me and I spun him around the dance floor. He smiled from ear to ear and hummed as I laughed and cherished our last dance together.

When it was time to go the next day, Vernon once again took my arm and sandwiched it under his and walked me to his car to show me where he would be sitting for the ride home. I gave his driver the sunscreen tube that I had applied on him all week so his balding head wouldn't get burned. I also gave him the bug spray I had strategically spritzed on him each evening to ward of pesky mosquitoes. I felt as though a part of me was leaving camp that day.

This is only one of the many campers that has touched my life here at camp. I thank God everyday for blessing me with the opportunity to give so little and gain so much in return.

My First Weekend

To catch some of you up to speed. Everyone at camp has a "camp name" mine is Chickadee because the Chickadee is the GREAT state of Massachusetts' state bird. REPRESENT! The male staff are Simba, Plato, Bug, and Chino (the cook). There is also the Director whose name is Grasshopper. The girls staff are Blizz, Poppy, Songbird, Mango, Raptor, and Sunset. The Directors wife is Muskrat. 

Now here is what I was up to this past weekend...also known as my first weekend at camp.

Friday morning campers left at 10 am. We (meaning the staff) starting cleaning the cabins and bunk houses. I then made my first trip into the "big city" of Salem, Oregon with some of the girls staff. Did I mention that I literally live on the side of a mountain. You can ask my dear 98 Oldsmobile Cutlass Olga about that curvaceous drive...her brakes are still aching, but at least I can't smell them anymore. We stopped at Walmart to get junk food to cram in the cabinets of the staff lounge. The camp meals are rationed, sugar free, and sometimes not enough. The car drive was filled of new advice for me and constant laughter about the memories we had all made with last weeks campers. I chimed in with my memories from the few days I had to spend with the campers. 

I went  to a church called Solid Rock in Portland Sunday morning. It was a cool Christian Church with a lot of good praise music. It is a very "come as you are" church in the fact that jeans were more then acceptable (which is good because that's what I was planning to wear for the day). After a stop at Chipotle (like Moe's) for lunch Simba, Plato, and I went to meet up with the rest of the group for bungee jumping. I have some video but the Internet isn't strong enough or has enough bandwidth to let me post the video. After bungee we went to a mall in Portland with an indoor ice rink. The food court overlooked the ice skating so you could see and smell the Cinnabun from the ice. lol...I went ice skating with Rice, a caregiver of one of the campers last week, and Mango, my roommate from Trinidad. Mango had never bungee jumped or ice skated so it was a great weekend for her. After that Rice, Mango, and I planned to use my $20 gift card to Olive Garden in Salem on the way back to camp. But Olive Garden being Olive Garden the wait was an hour, so we bounced to Red Robin which is kinda a burger joint and atmosphere like Friendlys (without the awesome ice cream). Next they had to show me Wynco which is a bulk store like BJ's or Costco. They didn't just have bulk items, everything was on discount like shampoo and books. They carry mostly everything but clothes.

Rice dropped us back to camp at 10 by curfew. We don't get campers until 2 tomorrow. From what I've been told Mondays consists of some last minute cleaning, and being assigned campers. Once we are assigned campers we must go through their files and list what kinds of food allergies/preferences/restrictions they have, and any other notable needs they might need throughout the week. We then share those with the other staff so they are aware of the needs of any campers they might come in contact with. It should be a good day...we get to sleep in till 8 :)