Will You Be Our Mom?

     It's that time again! Camp time, I mean. How can you tell? Because there is my blog posts are getting fewer and farther between and because the status on my Facebook page has remained the same for the last week. We have had a great week of staff training and as I sit at my desk completing the staff activity schedule and preparing for one last training session with the JC's, I am overcome with mixed emotions.
     First - I am always amazed at how fast the summer goes. I remember, like it was last night, staff training from last year. I remember staff banquet and what most people were wearing. Every year, the seasons seem to go by faster and faster. The moments seem to pass all to quickly.
     Second - I already have a horse voice. This is due to the first night of staff training when we played rainy day games. Oddly enough, it seems to always rain on my shift! So, naturally, I am the one that plays games like, roller racers (which is my favorite to watch), grab the tail (which is the most competivie and therefore the boys favorite game), Whompum (which is only a name Steven Sexton could come up with after creating this game), and many more. It was the first night of staff training when my clear, crisp voice turned into something much... well... softer. And it will stay that way until one week after staff banquet.
     Thirdly - After 30 years of doing this, I am amazed at how every year, the staff makes its way into my heart. Friday morning of staff training is proposal day. The guy Senior Counselors ask a girl Senior Counselor to be their sister bunkhouse and give them a rock. Not a ring/rock, just a rock. So cute and very creative. Well, I was standing at the end of one the cafeteria tables and one by one, the boys brought me rocks and placed them in front of me. Each with a different letter written on it. It took me a moment to realize they were spelling something. "Is this for me?', I asked with much curiosity in my tone. "Yes", they replied. I watched the letters on each rock come together to spell out the phrase, "Will you be our Mom?" Warm tears filled my eyes as I replied, "Yes". "She said yes!", they exlaimed, and I began to hug them one by one.

     Just like that, in a single moment, I was reminded of the blessed woman I am. I have had the honor of carrying and giving birth to 2 of the most wonderful children and every summer, I am allowed the opportunity to adopt into my home and into my heart, 30 more! It is a short 9 weeks to be a mother and a role model but every year, I take this job on with as my passion as I did the year before. With a new group of extraordinary young men and women sitting around my table, napping on my couches and eating my food, it is with a grateful heart that I begin Summer Camp. With it brings laughter, stories, friendships, moments and memories that will last long after they have gone.
     "Will you be our Mom?...Absolutely!