Youth Camp

This weekend I have been to Youth Camp. Always a great time - hanging around with kids 1/3 my age. You might think this would make me feel old, but nope. I always feel like we are just about the same age. There is something quite fun about marching through the hallways with Vicki and the girls from our room (that we are supposed to be chaperoning) singing through megaphones "Rise and Shine and Give God the Glory" -- at 1 a.m. Oh sure, some girls were still awake, but to the ones who weren't, the looks of disbelief on their faces was priceless as they crawled out of bed.....only to be told the actual time. Yeah, we're fun like that.

The title of the camp was "Captured" - and it centered around pirates. Jacob (far left) was the "Patsy" pirate, who just followed along and was always hanging around in the background, watching the fights between the good and bad pirates. He was there to give the good pirate shark repellant and water wings when he was made to walk the plank. He was there to supply materials when the good pirate's boat was sinking. He was there to loosen the ropes when the good pirate was tied up. He was there to foil the evil plans being made. He was always there - waiting to help. In the final skit at the end of camp, the good pirate was killed and upon entering heaven, it was revealed that Patsy was God -- always there and always ready to help. The kids sure weren't expecting that.

Vicki and I also did our skit Friday night. She read the campers a bedtime story - Green Eggs and Ham, while I stood behind her with an assortment of props. Goats, cars, boats, everything that went along with the story were spread on my table. She got misted with water during the "rain", culminating with an entire pitcher being poured over her head, toward the end of the story. Every time she said she didn't like green eggs and ham, she had a raw green dyed egg cracked over her head - a dozen in all. That woman is awesome. She never broke her stride. Never acknowledged a thing going on as cars ran up and down her arm and over her head. Never noticed the goats nibbling on her ears. Didn't seem to realize I had my hand over her eyes as she talked about "in the dark." She did mention how hot is was as she was "perspiring heavily", while she wiped the water out of her eyes. It was much fun for us - and the kids. The skit ended as she devoured a plate of green eggs and green ham, first quite ladylike, then with her hand and finally face first diving in. Considering that she was sick as a dog all week with stomach flu - she was a real trooper.





The only almost catastrophe came because I forgot my deodorant. That seems a weird way to start a paragraph, but it's true. Since I didn't have any, I went scavaging for some kid who was awake enough to answer the question, "hey little Mary Sunshine, do you have some deodorant with you I could borrow?" Hoping for some spray on, I found none, but I found lots of kids willing to share their roll - on. Desperate times calls for desperate measures and facing a 14 hour day in 90 degree heat is easily considered a desperate time, so I agreed to use Stephanie's Teen Spirit Strawberry roll on deodorant. I felt younger even as I was applying it. She told me her sister had coconut, but not till I was already smelling like a plump juicy strawberry. I love the smell of coconut - but that's beside the point of the story.


I went to the kitchen, ready to let everyone smell my "fresh roadside fruit stand" pits. Actually, it's quite amazing how many of your friends will smell your armpit if you tell them too -- without any questions at all. We all agreed I smelled quite young and spirited.

Andi, however, balked when I told her to smell me. She just looked at me with a "have you lost your ever loving mind" look. So I explained my problem --- which by the way - wouldn't have been an issue if she had been sleeping in the dorms with the rest of us grunts, but NOOOOOOO, just because she is pregnant and actually thought she should get real sleep, she slept in an air conditioned cabin while we sweltered through the night on bunks that thousands of others had sweltered on before us. Again, not the point. So back to the near catastrophe.

She asks me why she should smell me. Actually, she was the only person to even question my demand to "smell my deodorant." She's uppity like that. So I explained my quandary and my solution. She looks at me with a "YES, you HAVE lost your mind" look and asks in her best mother voice, "WHY would you do that?" Thinking she is all about the sharing aspect, I told her I wiped it off good before and after I used it. Obviously that was not her point as her next comment with her "I can not believe this is my mother" eyes was, "Mom, strawberry scented things give you the hives."

I'm still feeling very spirited as I cheerfully reply, "no, it's green apple that does that." And she looks at me with a "this is not going to be pretty" look as she reiterates in a slow, monotone, steady voice, "NO, MOM, it is strawberry."
And I realize she is right. I immediately lost any spirit I had as I race over to the kitchen sink, grab a wad of paper towels, wetting them down as I yank them off the roll, squirting soap on them and frantically trying to clean any trace of Teen Spirit off of my body - there in the campground kitchen, while everyone around - men and women - are laughing hysterically. Even Amy, the nurse was doubled over as she was trying to get the Benedryl out to give me one as a preventative measure. She later told me that was the funniest part of the weekend. We all are obviously a little warped.

It worked, or maybe it was the prayer that accompanied it at breakfast for "Bless the food and please, Lord, don't let Perri break out in hives" - either way, thank God it did, because we are not talking hives, we are talking HIVES. Large, red, angry welts that cover inches and inches of my body. How could I have been so forgetful? I don't know, but I'm sure nobody else will ever let me forget again.

Everyone had a great time - my kids stayed with friends and swam - and lives were changed at camp forever. Good memories were made all around - and that is an awesome way to spend a few days for God.