It's Been an Interesting Ride...

It's the night before the last day of camp. I've worked at this camp all summer, my group specifically being with first graders. I wouldn't say it's the best or worst thing I've ever done, but it's definitely been interesting. Not to mention, I've learned a hell of a lot.

Since day 1 of camp, I've had one of the hardest groups in the entire camp. My co-counselors and I constantly had our hands full, and there wasn't one moment that we could let our guard down. Having never worked with kids before, this was a bit overwhelming for me, especially for the first couple weeks of summer. I had quickly started thinking that maybe I had made a mistake, that I wasn't cut out to work with kids after all. However, I gradually got used to it, figured out what to do, and realized that maybe I do really enjoy working with kids. The frustrations are more than many other jobs, but you know what? So are the rewards.

When I first interviewed for this job, one of the questions I was asked was "What is the most rewarding experience you've had working with children?" I didn't really have much to say since the only real work I had done with kids was a regular family that I babysat for. Now, after the summer that I've had, I could list so many more. One story in particular is one that I'd like to share. For the first several weeks of camp, I had some REALLY tough kids in my group. One of them was so tough that we never really knew what to do with him and didn't know how we were going to handle him for the time that he was there. Then, we started talking to our directors and getting some extra help, and his parents were helpful, too. We were able to use some methods to help calm him down and keep his behavior in check, and suddenly he got to be much easier to work with. He always had his moments, but the more summer went on, the more fun it was to be with him, and the happier it made us to see him smile. Suddenly we all began to realize -- while he is a tough kid to work with, he really is sweet, and truly does mean well. I got to see him and his parents tonight at our family night and can't tell you how happy I was to see him again. After talking to his parents a bit, they expressed to me how much they want people to see his good side. I'm so glad I was able to honestly say that I got to see it and enjoy it. His growth over the few weeks I had him was one of the biggest rewards I could ask for.

It's been a tough summer. Long, tiring, and a hell of a lot more work than I'd ever done at a job before. While I'm not sure whether or not I'll return to this particular camp, I am actually still considering working with kids some day. Despite the challenges, working with kids truly is a great experience. I'm not making any final decisions, but taking some sort of career path with children is certainly not ruled out.

Reminiscent

In an attempt to get me to "come back" and spend more money, Shutterfly sent me an email offering me 101 free prints. While I most likely will not be giving them more money due to a starving bank account, I am going to take advantage of their free offer. I see this as the perfect opportunity to get started on printing my pictures from study abroad. However, there's just one problem - while I have in fact cut down a lot of my pictures, I still have several hundred that I have to pick through to decide which ones are the best ones to print...not exactly an easy task. Due to the ever looming deadline of my free prints offer, I decided to take tonight to continue on my picture-sorting endeavor. What did this lead to? Really missing Spain...

The first folder I started to sort through was my "Best of Valencia" folder; all of the everyday stuff that just happened in Valencia, separated from special events and trips. I barely started scrolling through when I just wanted to go back. To be honest, while it was a bit of a sad feeling, that sadness actually made me feel quite happy...I suddenly remembered what I great semester I did have while I was in Europe. Every picture made me think of a random funny story or wonderful moment. As I flipped through I remembered how many of those wonderful moments I really did have, and how lucky I was to have them.

Now you might be wondering, why would I even question my happiness studying abroad? I got to go to Spain! Who wouldn't be happy?? While I always saw it as an amazing experience, I had started to wonder lately if I had really made the most of it. There were trips I wanted to take that I never went on, things I wanted to do that I never did...not to mention talking to friends of mine that did so much more than I did during their study abroad experience. After talking to them, I started to wonder if I had left too much of that opportunity to go to Europe slip away. But even looking at those few pictures, I remembered that I didn't let anything slip away. While I didn't get to do EVERYTHING I wanted to, I sure did a hell of a lot. I had good moments, bad moments, and everything in between...and I wouldn't trade it for the world.

By the end of my study abroad experience, my home-body self was ready to come back to good ol' Derwood. Now, as I look through these photos, I just want to go back. Going to Spain helped to open my eyes to so many things -- a whole wide world, my independence, and plenty of new life lessons. I had an amazing experience that made a huge difference in my life, and I'm so incredibly glad I did it. Now I just have to start saving my money so I can get back to exploring the rest of the world as soon as possible :)

Wedding Bells

July 17th 2010: a date that I (and many other people) have been looking forward to for the last 6 months. But the occasion that actually took place on that day? Something we've all been looking forward to for much longer.

For as long as Kelly and Matt have been dating, we've all known that they would be great together; and at least speaking from the Phelps side of the family, we've known that Matt would fit into our family just right. He's always been a part of our family, but Saturday's wedding finally made it official. Not gonna lie, I got a bit teary-eyed during the actual ceremony. While I admit that I seem to be crying at a lot more these days, it really was quite the happy sight to see those two get hitched. It's been a long time coming, and I couldn't help but think about what a truly wonderful event it was.

The ceremony itself wasn't the only great part about the day. Who could ever forget the reception? It was a blast. Great music, dancing, food and drinks, and a best man speech that should win an academy award...it was a night to remember. As to be expected at a wedding, everyone was lighthearted and happy, and having a great time; but from the way I saw it, there was something more. Now, I haven't exactly been to a lot of weddings, but there was something about this one that was extra fun, extra special. Maybe it was seeing everyone in my family together again; maybe it was seeing Kelly light up as she finally referred to Matt as her husband; maybe it was all that combined with so many other little things. Who knows? All I can say is, it really was a great night.

Congratulations Kelly and Matt, I'm so happy for you and love you both!

The Little Things

I think we can all agree that some of the most important or entertaining things in life are the little things. While I will probably go much more in depth on this topic, I have to start with a couple things that really aren't deeply significant or anything, but did in fact make my day.

First of all, on our 12 mile run on Sunday, it was once again quite hot. However, this week, we had two lovely surprises waiting for us...the first was at the halfway point in the form of another runner's husband with 2 jugs of ice cold water. The second was around mile 8 or 9, in the form of a fellow runner (or at least a runner's wife), with ice pops, ice to put on our necks/in our water, and Christmas music playing from her car. I wanted to give all of these people flowers, a medal of honor, something. It meant so much on such a hot day!

Second of all, yesterday was Crazy Hat Day at the camp where I work. My dad had gone to a Green Bay Packers game a few years back and brought me a cheesehead, so I decided to wear that for Crazy Hat Day. I thought the kids would like it, but I totally underestimated how much. They LOVED it, and I had kids all over campus pointing out my cheese hat. The kids in my own group just wanted to touch it all day, and I had been told several times that someone was going to eat my hat. And of course, there were all kinds of awesome crazy hats all over camp. It was a very fun day :)

So these aren't those super deep/meaningful little things that we tend to point out a lot, but these still put a smile on my face. Just thought I'd share :P

Reality Check

When I first signed up for Marine Corps Marathon, I thought it would be just like training for my first Army Ten Miler...tough, but just gradually adding more distance and being fine. Well, guess what...it's a bit more complicated than that.

As it turns out, it is quite a bit more difficult to train for 26.2 miles vs. 10 miles. Hydration is a much bigger focus, but so is food. I found this out the hard way last Sunday after an attempted 11 mile run. I drank plenty of water, but the heat and humidity took more than that out of me. The main things? Well, they all happen to begin with the letter "E"...energy, electrolytes, and ego.

Funny thing, all those weird gel packs and gummy chews that they tell you to train with actually have quite a bit of significance. They aren't just calories for extra energy, but also have electrolytes. I never realized before Sunday that electrolytes actually are pretty important to maintain. That heat and humidity sucks you dry of these friendly little hydration-supporters, and before you know it you're facing heat exhaustion and puking on the side of the running path.

Hopefully you've gathered by now that I did not finish the 11 miler on Sunday. However, I did learn a lot from it, and hopefully can avoid another outcome like that one. The first step, and probably the toughest, was to slow down. One of the directors/coaches of the program told me that I'm in too fast a pace group, that I need to drop back 2 groups. At first, this crushed me. While I've always focused more on completion than time, I was proud of how well I was doing in a faster-than-usual group. Dropping back meant that I had to suck up a bit of pride, ego, and stubbornness, something that's not always easy.

Fighting with myself up until the last second, at this Wednesday's track workout, I joined up with the 11:40 pace group (instead of the usual 11 min group), and shyly introduced myself, head hanging slightly. Surprisingly, one of the coaches knew who I was, and everyone else in the group kindly introduced themselves and started up some friendly conversation. I didn't really expect anything different, since everyone in the program is very nice, but it was still a nice pick-me-up. As it turns out, the only one giving me a hard time about dropping back was myself.

My dad's girlfriend, Kathy, had been reminding me since Sunday that I was training for completion, not time. It took a little while for that reminder to sink in, but luckily it finally did. I had a bit of an ego trip that could have gotten me in quite a bit of trouble. Hopefully I can maintain this reality check that I've obtained, and remember what being tough in training actually means...pushing through the pain and overcoming challenges...without overdoing it.