Training Week 2012

I have so many amazing memories from last summer.  Quite a few of them come from training week.  So here are a couple of stories from training week.

It was on that first day at camp that we (the staff) went to the BARn, a nearby bar that had been converted into a bar for a fundraiser for camp.  I remember much of what happened that first day at camp.  I remember the trip to Walmart where Jensen (camping/fishing director) was able to win some dinosaurs in one of those claw games.  Before I knew it, we were on our way to the BARn.    I only barley knew my way around camp--and that was just the main camp area.  I remember lots of dancing happening at the BARn.  I knew we had been there for hours when we left the BARn, but it hadn't felt like we had been there as long as we were.  It was just after 1 am when we arrived back at camp.  There were a bunch of groans from tired staff as we arrived back on camp.  I don't know if I groaned tiredly or not.  But I do know that I had a thought that has stuck with me since then.  My thought at that moment was "I'm home.".  It was one of those thoughts that I didn't realize that I would have working at WBC.

I also have a funny memory from training week related to the game Apples to Apples.  That's a memory that I won't go into.  But after that moment, "That's my card!" become a saying that a group of us now laugh about.  The third and final memory that I have from training week that sticks out to me is the game of football in the front lawn.  Not everyone knew much about football.  I was one of those people who knew stuff about football (THANKS DAD!).  There was a lot of laughter during the game.  What I didn't realize was that during training week I didn't miss home a single bit.  I didn't even think about home.  I didn't miss home most of the summer.  It wasn't until the last couple weeks of camp that I missed home.  I think that it was during training week that I found that I had made some great friends and that those friends were people that I have kept in touch with since then.

Here's the thing--camp did become home in a short period of time.  When you spend 2.5 months living with the same people in the same place those people become friends/family and the place becomes home.