Skinned Knees and Unexpected Phone Calls

Written Wednesday night-

I got a very unexpected phone call or maybe I should say eight phone calls. They were all from one girl, Megan Poling, one of my favorite campers from Kamp Kaleidoscope. For those of you unfamiliar with Megan or Kamp Kaleidoscope, here is a crash course. I worked two summers at Camp Cho-Yeh, a Christian summer camp in Livingston, TX. The last week of the summer, the camp hosts Kamp Kaleidoscope, a non-Christian camp for teenagers who have epilepsy. Some are perfectly normal other than the fact that they have seizures. Most are somewhat mentally impaired. This makes for a crazy exciting week of camp. I love this camp so much that I came back for just that week of camp during two summers. So, I have worked the camp four times.

Megan is a big girl. She is twenty years old and at least 250 lbs. She has the mind of a six year old. She is hilarious in many ways but can also be frustrating. I talked to her on the phone and it went better than I expected. We talked about her life: one of their two refrigerators broke down and her grandpa’s boss in her words is a “B-I-C-H.” She also asked about all her favorite camp counselors like, Sarah and Kattner. (wink,wink). She was excited to learn that Zach is going to be a dad but she thinks he is too young. It was actually good to talk to her but hopefully she does not call me to much now that she has “her very own cell phone that only she answers unless she is in the shower.”

Megan is one of the memorable campers. I think she was only in my cabin two times but her presence was always felt no matter what.

Today was the second day of staff conference. Today ended up being more of a fun team-building type thing instead of a long boring meeting thing like the day before. We were divided into teams and sent on an island-wide Amazing Race-type adventure. It was fun and it helped us all to get to know some of the other staff a little better. My team, unfortunately did not return victorious.

The last clue was in a porta-potty at a popular beach across the island, Makena beach. Helen Hunt named her daughter after this beach. There were some crazy waves breaking right onto the beach. Apparently tourists have died here because of the harsh waves. This time, however, the waves merely caused a few people to be knocked off their feet. If you know me well, you know that I find nothing funnier than people falling down. Waves knocking people down is just as amusing. There were some serious skim boarders out there and I thought of my good pal and skim boarder, David Ray.

After this we had a BBQ at a beach near our house. Of course, as I have learned from living in Hawaii, BBQ almost never means real BBQ is served. This time we had pizza. We played a little football and ultimate Frisbee. As we were leaving, I totally tripped in the darkness and skinned my palms and knee. It hurt a little and now I feel like a bit of a dork. I forgot how much skinned knees can hurt.

Right now I am at Borders. I am feeling a little sad. I think I am lonely despite the friends I have here and the friends I have made. I had a couple people I wanted to call today and I couldn’t because we didn’t finish our stuff until it was too late to call most people. I know this loneliness will pass but it is annoying. I don’t really have default friends here yet. You know, those friends that you almost don’t have to ask if they want to hang out because it is pretty much a given. We are all also getting used to each other’s personalities and the rhythms of our senses of humor. I know this all takes time but that doesn’t mean I don’t still feel a bit sad.

Tomorrow I start working again so maybe that will help my melancholies.