Writer's Block

A few days ago, our son explained to me that he wants to write a book about our sailing trip.  He has his composition notebook, a new mechanical pencil and lots of memories.  And writer's block.  Last night, he said, "Mama, I don't think I'm going to write my book.  I don't know how to start."

Ah.  Therein lies the rub.  I suggested he start writing and not worry about whether its perfect.  I also reminded him that he could go back to his beginning later and fix it.

This seemed like a telling intro for this blog since its been several weeks since my last entry.  I too, have had a bit of a block. 

As you can see from previous entries, we thoroughly enjoyed being in the mountains.  Capping our time with an 8 day session full of campers was just joyful.  Our daughter got to spend the whole time with her best friend whom she'd hardly seen in the last year.  They backpacked for four days with their unit.  I am a firm believer that sending middle and high school girls out on the trail for 3, 4, 7 or 11 days is a fantastic way to build their self esteem.  If they can bear-bag, hike their heart out and rough it that much, they can handle anything school/teenage life will throw at them.  Our daughter now plans to set up a backpacking/outdoor adventure group at her school.

Our son, being the child of staff members, was privileged to be in the "tagalong" unit - the group at this Girl Scout camp for boys and girls too young to be in a traditional camper unit.  His crowning achievement was getting 16 bulls-eyes in archery.  I now need to follow up on a promise and find an archery club for him.    As usual, he had a great time fishing, hiking, shooting arrows, playing "Magic" with the other tags and having lots of kids around.  Living on the boat, and then in the mountains, was fun and great for our family.  However, our son really thrives being around others.  He is very much looking forward to school.  No more boat school with mom as the teacher.

David, as usual, loved camp.  He got to drive girls to trail-heads, pick them up, use power tools (not while driving) and taught "mud" (a card game) to some of the counselors.  He could always be found in the staff house at night - playing cards and hanging out.  Sometimes, I feel like he has more fun than me at camp, but that's also his personality.  I have a bit of a serious streak running through me. 

This was my second year as "seasonal" director.  I like how the lead directors are fond of saying, "Many hands make light work."  They embraced that by encouraging several of us to take on extra jobs throughout the year, and become certified directors through the American Camp Association.  At first, I was reluctant, because I relish being in a unit with girls and introducing them to backpacking.   However, I do thrive on the challenges of handling logistics & personnel issues that come up.  I also like making sure that the other staff have what they need to do their job well.  That was part of the joy of being at camp so early and so long.  We were able to do some little projects that we think make everyday life just a little better (like cleaning and adjusting the kitchen pilot lights so they always light the stove, building a new rack for the kitchen for dish-washing, determining that a new battery charger was needed and installing it).  My favorite phrase for the week was, "mischief managed" as my co-director and I handled all the things that came up.  Perhaps the most exciting thing was helping an injured staff member off the trail.  I took her place since I had the requisite training and she, thankfully, checked out okay at the hospital.  We were all happy that the girls got to finish their trip. If there had only been one director, or no one else with the right training, they all would have had to come off the trail.  Mischief managed.

Since returning to the Bay Area July 26th, we continued our nomadic lifestyle by staying with two sets of friends and are now house-sitting a third house while we wait for our own home to become available.  When we started this journey over a year ago, we thought we would be away from the Bay Area until September and set up the rental agreement accordingly.  We are very grateful to the friends that let us stay with them longer than the 3 days it takes for fish to go bad.  And thankful for friends of friends who are letting us house-sit for a nominal fee while they go explore this country for a couple months.  Life is good.

And, life is better.  I am looking forward to starting work next week after the kids start school.  Taking a personal leave of absence is a bit of a gamble - there's no guarantee of employment upon return.  I was delighted to find multiple opportunities and even more pleased that my skills were wanted/needed.