I write to remember.
When camp ended, we were a bit tired, but by no means dragging. Mostly, we were motivated and glad to get back into something resembling daily life and the consumption of vegetables . . . . we were also excited about the following week of "special season". That is when we host other large groups and keep some of our staff on to run activities like the pool, waterfront, horseback, ropes course, etc . . . We LOVE special season because (in years past, at least), every night we open our house to staff for movies, games, visiting, eating and fun. It's a great time to get to know the staff better and decompress from camp. One year we had three weeks of special season--yes, that added up to around eighteen game nights in a row--mercy!
Tuan planned to take some off time the week after special season to rest and tackle projects and do some fun family things, but on Monday morning of special season I woke up feeling very, very wrong. Bada-boom-bada bing, it was the stomach flu. There was no way that Tuan could stay home to help, as three hundred high schoolers were coming in and he had five thousand things to co-ordinate--except that he got hit with the stomach flu only hours later and promptly came home.
It was more "flu" than stomach--aches, pains, chillls, fatigue--so terribly awful. Thankfully only one child got it and somehow we survived. Our poor kids ate crackers and juice along with us on Monday because it's rather hard to feed one's children when the sight of food makes one sick. : (
By Wednesday, we were somewhat recovered and felt the contagion was gone, so the staff came over to a highly lysol-ed house for a raucous game night. Thursday night we partied again and Friday night the last remnant of hosts ate dinner with us and we watched Lord of the Rings. By that point, we had said our good-byes to most everyone and camp was so empty and quiet. The staff this year was a particularly wonderful group and we were so, so sad to see them go!
Saturday morning left us tired and weary and the prospect of a week at home full of projects was no longer appealing. We had planned to vacation sometime in the fall, but so many things fell into place that we realized a get-away was in high order.
Tuan's parents came and spent Saturday afternoon and night with us and we celebrated Nana's birthday with cake and country cooking, mingled with packing and cleaning and preparing.
Sunday after church, we headed south to the beach! My aunt and uncle have a "cabin" on the Choctawhatchee bay and are so kind and generous to let us use it. We spent the week there, came back on Friday, had houseguests arrive Saturday lunch---Our friends the Fortiers , Mrs. Les (my other mother), her son Josh and his wife, Ceci and Ceci's brother Antonio. Such dear, fun, wonderful people. We talked, explored camp, cooked, ate, played games and laughed until we cried. They joined us for church today and lunch after and then we said bittersweet goodbyes.
And as soon as we returned home, I collapsed and slept until six thirty. I think I could have slept straight through the night. This week, we are going to try to remember what normal looks like--ha! Any camp wife (past or present) can laugh along with me at that.
I'm glad to be home and so full of thankfulness. Our God is so good!
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