The last day as a councilor was rather bitter sweet. I was excited to know that I would finally be getting sleep again, but it was sad to say bye to everyone. It's interesting being a councilor because one day you have these teenage girls plopped into a group with you, and with in hours they've decided that you're pretty cool but you don't really know them yet. Some of them bare their souls to you, others are quietly reserved. Some are the ones who stand out in the crowd and another would happily sit on the sidelines. Some make matches, others have hearts broken. Some just want to play and others are desperately looking to see if there is room for them in the music world. All in one week. Some of my girls I got to know quite well, and others I never really was able to connect with. Each night I got consecutively less sleep culminating in a conversation ending Saturday morning at 3am. Some times I just wanted to be done and go home, but I'd do it again in a heart beat. So, here are my last few entertaining thoughts for you.
Friday night was the Jazz concert. I like jazz, but not in concert form, I love dancing to it or having it as background music, but I struggle in the formal concert setting. I was actually rather glad when one of my girls realized that she had left her straightener on and we had to go back to stop Heritage from burning down. She saved me from falling asleep and being incredibly embarrassed.
The Friday night dance was much more of a success than the one on Tuesday. Would you believe me if I said there were hardly any line dances? Yeah, just a couple and people seemed fine with that. I spent most of the dance floating between pretending to monitor the halls and dancing with my girls. It was quite fun. I remember being fifteen and going to Summerfest and loving those dances so it was really fun to watch them. About half way through the dance there was a slow song, which is nothing really worth noting but I noticed one of the councilors was coming over to ask me to dance (you know that really awkward point where you know someone is gonna ask you but they still have ten feet left) well as this councilor walks over this little fifteen year old pipsqueak asked me to dance. I was slightly irked, but it only got more amusing. The councilor who was coming to ask me had to make an awkward turn and ask the next closest female and my young partner looked at me and said: "You're Scott's wife, right?"
me: "uuuuuuhhhh. nope." (in my head: his wife is pregnant... you PUNK!)
kid: "Ohh, cause all week I've thought you were his wife"
me: "yeah, you must have me concerned with someone" (in my head: and here comes an awkward dance... and all week he thought I was a pregnant lady... and the fact that I never talked to Scott or anything all week didn't tip this kid off... not the brightest crayon in the box are we?)
As far as awkward dances go, this one takes the cake. I have to feel sorry for the kid, cause he never really recovered after I told him that I was actually single and not Scott's wife. How do you recover from that? "Oh, my bad for mistaking you for a pregnant lady..." Yeah, there's no recovering. Ever. So I got to experience the awkward high school shuffling dancing to a slow song while you make awkward conversation about stupid things like the color of your toothbrush. (Admit it, you've asked or been asked that before.) There is a reason I go for boys who know how to dance, I hate to shuffle awkwardly. And, it was a Waltz, and I love waltzes. Grrrr.
Post dance there was much girl chitchat over boys and such at the dance, and actually a certain some one's planned romance may actually turn into something more... we'll see. I'm intrigued at the very least. I was happy cause I got to swing dance again and also got in one real slow dance, and my girls all seemed to really enjoy the dance too. Those who wanted to stayed up and partied with us for the next few hours and I taught Gina how to spiderman up the wall. It was epic.
After many hours of teenage fun (I loved being with those girls because I felt I could regress back to my highschool self around them, which was really really fun) we finally crashed and headed to bed at 3am. Yeah, breakfast came early.
Final Observations:
~ Sleep deprivation, lousy food, and cranky head councilors were all worth it.
~ Summer romance was found for many a young girl and boy at camp. Precious.
~ Being called some guys pregnant wife does not cause you to love a certain young camper more...
~ Unrequited love is also a theme of camp... tragic, but true
~ Driving six hours on four hours of sleep is just rotten. Sleep and driving hours should never move past a 1:1 ratio. EVER.
~ Apparently the Spice Girls will never go out of style at cheesy dances.
~ Having your birthday at summer camp is freaking awesome, particularly if you are a councilor.
~ Lack of sleep causes you to do rather stupid things and admit stupid things in front of those who you are in authority over. Particularly if you have a very inquisitive mind around.
~ One should never climb a wall too many times. Ohhh the pain.
~ Simply by virtue of being a councilor each man is invariable more attractive to young teenage girls... just ask a few who I worked with... they had them ranked.
~ Just because you've never talked to someone doesn't mean you can't be incredibly good friends by the end of one week together. I had never had a single conversation with Gina before last Sunday, but I absolutely loved getting to know her.
~ Councilors worry about what the kids think of them. A lot. Way more than I would have ever expected, I remember worrying that my girls would think that I Was a fruit loop.
~ Councilors shouldn't worry. The unconditional support from campers is awesome.
~ Teenage girls are easier from a councilors perspective, they just want to giggle all night. Teenage boys want to burn things and hang from the rafters.
~ Secretly there are about five campers who the councilors are afraid of and would love to send home. These children are prayed for, but at the same time each councilor watches for an infraction that will free them of these problem children. Luckily I didn't have any in my group.
~ Some parents are psycho. No, really. We would get phone calls from panicking parents who hadn't heard from their children in one day. Yeah... you sent the kid to summer camp for a week, perhaps they are busy, or having fun... calm down. BYU really isn't that scary... now if it were that nasty red school to the north, I'd make my child check in every hour...
~ If you ever have to eat an on campus dining plan, the Cannon Center is the way to go. They serve REAL eggs. And the food probably can't walk away by itself. The Morris Center, well, perhaps another week there and no punk camper would think I was some guy's pregnant wife.
~I'm not actually bitter about being called someones pregnant wife. I find it rather funny.
~ Being a councilor is worth every moment. Know that. I wouldn't change a thing.
No comments:
Post a Comment