the day i learned to shag

6/6/07

Today was wonderful.

We got to sleep in a little bit... and I had diet coke in the morning (I had gotten it the night before when we went to Walmart to get cabin decor). The kick of caffiene made all the difference, and I was much more chipper than usual. We did some training and such in the morning, then had chicken patties for lunch. Apparently, chicken patty day is sacred... if that says anything :).

The afternoon was nice.. helped with the dams again becuase Chuck said they weren't high enough. Ooh.. and I skipped my first rock. Redeemed my previous attempts. AND I went in the stream after a poisonous snake was spotted. Out of control.

Getting to know the counselors has been really good.. I've made some real friends, and these people are incredible. They're all up here because of different experiences and desires, but we all have the same big goal. I love deep one-on-one talks, and we've had plenty of those. It's fantastic.

Had an hour break so I took the Glass Castle, my journal, and my ipod up to one of the waterfalls. The other counselors laughed at me because it's really not a big deal to go to the waterfalls.. its barely a 5 minute walk and the campers go up there all the time... but I've decided that this waterfall is going to be "my waterfall" during nap time. It was so peaceful.. I didn't use the ipod because the running water was so much more beautiful. The book is amazing, too.. its the autobiography of a woman who was neglected as a child.. its fascinating to see her put positive spins on these horrible memories because of her childhood innocense. Deep and refreshing.

After dinner some of us went to see the farm where we take the campers horseback riding... Chuch said it would take 17 minutes to get there, and we timed it... 17:04. The guy is incredible. When we got there, he told us a story about how a girl who had no use of her arms or legs got bucked off a horse and he caught her with his bare hands. He's such a cute little old man.

Counselor: "Chuck, what's the horse's name?"
Chuck: "Well, I don't know.. one of the horses died."
Counselor: "Well, I'm going to guess this isn't that horse..."

At night we had counselor square dancing, which was SO much fun. Scott was my partner, and he hates that sort of thing so it was fun watching him suffer through it a bit :). He kept clenching his fists and saying "but I don't wanna..." Classic. He managed to make his cabin theme Spiderman. Surprise, surprise.

Afterwards Cam decided it was a travesty that a Charleston girl doesn't know how to shag, so he taught me the steps... we're going to try it to music later. He's a fun guy :)

I love it here -- everything is rural and clean and there's a little fruit stand down the road... as I get more comfortable, it becomes more homey. I feel independent here.

"Lord, help me to be clear in speech and prudent and confident in my actions... grant me humility to love You always!"