Camp

This past Sunday I had the privilege of signing the song "Our God is an Awesome God" with a guy name Kevin at our church. Kevin has some form of mental retardation, and while I am not sure of his exact diagnosis I know that in the end Kevin is Kevin and a diagnosis doesn't matter.

Two summers ago on a whim I decided that I should work at a camp. I started to look online for different camps that were hiring. While camp sounded great, I also knew that I really wanted to be able to spend some time at home too. Well I came across this camp that seemed perfect. I would get to go home on the weekends. I would only work for around 6 weeks and there would be weeks where I could stay home. The only reason I was hesitant is because this camp was like no camp I had ever been to. This was a camp for people with disabilities. I would be responsible for the personal care of multiple people every week. I would work with adults some weeks and children other weeks. If you know me you know that I have problems with poop. I just think it is the grossest thing ever, and that was one of the things that scared me the most about my new job. But in the end I decided that I could get over it. So I went to camp and I had no clue what was about to happen.

I arrived at camp and had to go through all the trainings. I was prepared for all situations. We learned the basics like CPR and First Aid but we also learned many other things like transferring, showering, putting on braces, changing adult "diapers", clothing. Oh and there was a whole session on how to protect yourself in case one of your campers decided to attack you... yea. The training week had me scared to death and all I could think was what in the world have I gotten myself into this time!

Well let me to tell you that I had gotten myself into a life changing experience! I have SO many stories that I could tell you. I can tell you that my life was forever changed by working at camp. I went there thinking I was going to help them so much, but they taught me so much more than I could have imagined possible. I learned life can change in the blink of an eye. I learned that sometimes the best thing to do is laugh. I learned to not judge a book by the cover. That people are people, and that God can give you strength to do things you didn't think possible. That summer I laughed more than I knew I could yes I wet my pants once from laughing so hard and my campers found it hilarious, I cried tears of happiness of sadness and just because I was so tired I couldn't move, I hurt for my campers when they hurt, and I experienced a kind of love I didn't know before. I heard stories that changed my life and I was reminded daily that God has an incredible plan.

I had so many campers with incredible stories but there is nothing like your first camper. The first week of camp I met such a sweet lady named Julia. You can read her story here ... when I met her it was Julia's second year at camp. Because of her injury she had severe memory loss. She would remember the funniest things. I would wake Julia up every morning and reintroduce myself, I would remind her that she is at camp and that I was there to take care of her. What I loved about her was how amazing life was to her. The normal things that we never notice, she thought they were amazing. She would say Wow like 100 times a day. I remember one morning asking her if she wanted an apple (knowing that she loves apples) and she asked me what an apple was... let me tell ya it is hard to figure out how to explain things that like apples to someone who doesn't really have any reference points. So I showed it to her and I told her how to eat it and she took a bite. "Wow, This is Amazing!" she said as she smiled the biggest smile ever. This was just an apple. That week we also took a trip to the drive-in. I had mentioned this to Julia and every day when it was mentioned I would get to explain what it is. Considering she didn't even really remember TV... she was completely amazed by the thought of this movie. I remember going to the movie and sitting behind her. We saw Night at the Museum 2. She laughed louder and harder than everyone else there even though I knew she didn't understand most of the movie. She was there in that moment and she was so happy. She kept saying "This is the best night ever"! The next day when I asked her about the movie she looked at me like I was crazy. Julia had such a sense of humor. Since she was my first camper, she was also my first transfer. One day I was transferring her from her wheelchair to the toliet and I lost my balance and we both fell on the floor. I was almost in tears because I felt so bad. We were laying there and she says "Don't worry, I won't remember this in 10 minutes" and so we laughed and laughed until my co-counselor came to save us haha. She was the happiest person I have ever known. I remember when she was leaving one of my coworkers came up to me and we were talking. Julia had been her first camper the summer before. I remember her saying "You will never forget her, but she will never remember you". And she was right... Julia taught me so much. She knew she wouldn't remember that movie, but that didn't keep her from enjoying it. She was amazed by life. I want to be amazed by the things that other's take for granted.

Over the summer I had close to 30 campers. They were all different. They were all beautiful. Each one of them has a special place in my heart. I wish that I had time to tell you about every one of them. Lately camp has been on my mind a lot. I didn't get paid enough. It was not glamorous. I did things I didn't think I would be able to. And at the end of the summer I knew that it was all worth it. I am blessed to have known each of my campers, and I am blessed to know Kevin. They make me a better person. I hope that I never forget my time at camp, and I hope I have the chance to work with more of these beautiful people in the future.