Thanksgiving

Tomorrow campers come to spend a snowy Thanksgiving at camp. There is currently 8 inches of crunchy luxurious white snow on the ground. I had forgotten how much I missed just looking at snow. Tennessee does not get snow (no matter what anyone from there tells you), and when I go home for Christmas I am usually rushing around from this house to that house that I never get a chance to actually LOOK at the snow. By look at the snow I mean to just stand and watch the light sparkle off the snow like undiscovered diamonds. The thing I love most about snow is how it forms to the trees. The snow hugs the limbs and adheres itself like crazy glue, never to let go...well until the sun says to let go and melt away.

We have a lot of fun things planned for the campers. The activities will range from scooping out pumpkin guts for pies, to snowman building, and hand tracing for turkey arts and crafts. My suggestion that was received wonderfully was to watch "The Grinch Who Stole Christmas" (cartoon version..OF COURSE) Thanksgiving night without fail TV channel TNT always shows The Grinch (cartoon version). So after Thanksgiving dinner aka all the leftovers from lunch I will be singing "You're a mean one...Mr. Grinch" with the campers.

At first, I was sad that I was not going to be with my family for Thanksgiving (still kinda am) but then I remember that Muskrat and Grasshopper are a part of my extended family, and how great I could make a camper feel by showing them that they are a part of my family too for the Holidays. A lot of the campers we serve don't have homes with a Mom and Dad like most of us do. Some group home life can be great with caring staff and roommates that form a support system, and others can be like bad foster care. I want to make a safe place where campers know they are loved when the drive the windy roads into the woods to Upward Bound. That makes me not as sad to be going home to know that I can make a camper feel safe at home.

Funk

I'm not really sure what to call it. Some call it "finding yourself" others "settling in"...I call it a "funk" there's not really anything fun about it. There's not much going on it Stayton. The Santiam Cannery is processing onions so that is a real joy. I can only describe it as a skunk eating a bag of onions and then deciding to spray the rotting onion bum bum smell every morning. Not pleasant.

Chelsea and I made homemade whole wheat bread. It is very yummy and freezes and toasts very well. Chelsea also had a bread demonstration about how to make/bake bread. It was pretty awesome and informative. She is like a little Stayton celebrity. Everyone loves her and her bread, proud to call her my friend (tear).

Still trying to figure out what I want to do with my life. I'm starting to think that will be continually on going. I thought when I got to Oregon I would breath and feel a sense of belonging and new found home. Now I can't stop thinking about what is next. Should I do my Masters? What should I do my Masters in? Where do I want to live? I want my own place, but where and what can I afford? And how do I be 3 places in one? The list goes on...and so explains my 3 week FUNK of not talking much to the outside world. Because what do I have to say to anyone, when I can't even figure myself out?