Blog of KBH: August 2007

My wonderful summer at Wilderness Wind is behind me and I'm about to jet over the pond to England. Before I go into that though, there is some ground to cover, quite a lot actually. Where I left you, I had just finished my first trip leading. That was an amazing learning experience--some random advice: don't try to go up a tiny river when there is a portage trail available--it's there for a reason, surprisingly enough; don't go in with specific expectations--in the end the weather is always boss. We were forced to take a layover day because of very strong winds and whitecaps--but amazingly, complaints were at a minimum. A cool thing we did that day instead of paddling was to all go exploring by ourselves for 20 minutes, then meet back and lead each other on a tour of our discoveries.
After that, I was off the water for a day and the next group came--a family reunion of 11. Too big for entry to the Boundary Waters, we (Aubrey and I co-led this group) plotted a rout in other beautiful but not quite so protected waters. This family was comprised of 2 grand parents--in their 70s and certainly held their own in terms of physical activity, their daughter and her husband and their 4 kids (an 11 year old girl, 10 year old boy, and 8 year old twins--one girl one boy), another middle generation son with his 8 year old son ( his wife and very small children at home) and one more middle generation son. This was such a different week-- the weather was always with us, which made a huge difference. They were a beautiful family, i loved watching the way they interacted and interacting with them myself. The kids were so well mannered, cute and smart that it made me think--hey, i could maybe do this someday. The set up each day was to have two adults in a canoe and one or two kids in the middle--and they actually paddled! I could totally notice a difference when they would take a break. by the end of the week, Aubs and I felt like part of their family--I appreciated things about each of them, valued our time together and mourned the fact that I won't be a part of their lives. That's been a tough theme this summer--or at least something I'm more keyed into: while meeting and caring about new people is enriching, the short term nature of most of these relationships is really lousy. Is it worth it? Can I even help it? probably not.
After that week, I came back to camp--tired but energized. I love being out on the water. Time just works differently; each day full but not scheduled--no place for watches. I wouldn't go out for a trip again the rest of the summer--that was really hard. For the rest of the summer, i was either doing whatever needed to be done or being the head cook. That week--did a lot of physical hard work--scraping paint, digging trenches, cleaning stuff up--it was tough, but fun to be with all the staff for a week again.
Then came the group of Mennonites with Disabilities-- 6 men ranging in age from 20s to 50s. They staid at our lakeside cabins, and all of us staff got to spend time with them--going on fieldtrips of sorts. We went to the bear center--very informative, bears are much less scary than the media makes them out to be. We visited a dog sledding outfitters--72 dogs--this was my favorite outing. They all howled to greet us-- what a sound, and then stopped in unison only to start back up again. We got to walk around and pet them --I think one of the guys may have petted all 72. The dogs were so good with them; it was beautiful. I want a dog. We took one small canoing endeavor, but mostly we just hung out--played cards, chatted, roasted marshmallows. I really liked hanging out with them; they all so genuinely wanted to be friends. they were such characters--i enjoyed learning some of their idiosyncrasies.
The rest of the summer was filled with cooking--diner for staff during the weekdays, cooking ahead for the groups that are there on the weekends, re-stocking the trip foods, baking bread for the lakeside cabins. This was more stressful than being on the water for me, but i think i managed to shine in it as well. I discovered that i love making elaborate foods--with time built into them--like baking bread that needs to rise several times, or things with lots of steps. I cooked a lot from Simply in Season and from a variety of Moosewood cookbooks. I can vouch that there are some good ones there to be found. I tended to go for things that had names i couldn't pronounce and that went well. I had a lot of fun and gained a lot of cooking confidence.
the rest of staff came and went on trips--back on the weekends-- a few weekend excursions--hiked part of the Superior Hiking trail (that was cool, but I find it difficult to see the point of hiking without a summit. spoilt, I'm sure. ) Then I said goodbye to camp and rather abruptly I was home in Colorado. I was there for a week--resting, trying to pull things together for the next year--doctor's and dentist's appointments, teacher clothes shopping, and i took my brother's senior pictures. I went on a hike with my dad up at Rocky Mountain Mennonite Camp--Old Baldy. All along the way I noticed the wildlife in a new way--there were some of the same plants as in MN. I was thrilled to identify them, even to see them. I took in so much more from my surroundings because i was just a bit more informed. Then at the top, the same old spectacular view, accompanied by the full sound of wind through thousands of pine trees and the rushing stream far below. it was wonderful to combine my love of the big dramatic views with all the details.
Jumped over to Indiana--lost my luggage in Chicago, and reunited with some of my dear college friends. Then I went to MVS (Mennonite Voluntary Service) orientation with some Goshen people; my luggage made its grand appearance the day after i left--so i had to do some serious mooching for that week. Some of it was really helpful, but much of it was a repeat of what i'd learned for SST (Study Service Term--I spent a semester in Senegal), or by just living communally--like i have for the past two years at school. What with Goshen College's emphasis on "culture for service" many of us Goshen kids felt over prepared. We tried to be glad about this rather than annoyed--but it was hard to not be bored sometimes. Met many cool people, was a bit tempted to just hang out with people i already know, but couldn't do it. I met Matthew from Iowa, with whom I'll be living this next year in England--sharing a flat we will be. I left with most of my fears of being lonely and friendless allayed and my excitement significantly up.
I then went back to Goshen for a week, went to a beautiful wedding, became aware of even more of my friends becoming engaged (up to five now--and the first wave of weddings is over--crazy that my peers are some of them at a different stage of life), spent time with some of my former housemates, had a wonderful time. I felt truly myself with these people that have known me for so long, free to be completely myself. It was a week that seemed stolen from some other time--there was a strange shadow on it for me because I had to keep remembering that i wasn't staying like they were. Though they may seem rather the same this week--really, things are not and will never be again. How much can we really be in each others lives? transitions, what downers.
Now I'm back in Colorado. Just celebrated my grandma's 80th birthday with a bunch of family--good fun--wild times with balloons--I got to make the cake: tres leches cake--yummy. I fly on Friday evening and get there Saturday afternoon. wow--still not real; maybe on the plane it will hit me--or maybe it won't hit me at all--probably not, asking too much.

PICTURES!

walking the canoe up rapids on one of those tiny little steams with a portage trail close by--we gave up half way through and portaged the rest. yup, learning experience.

First group by a waterfall--i've never been more scared for everyone's safety ever!

Grandparents and kids of group two--spunky characters the lot of them.

Goods time with torillas--group two.

Aubrey being so hard core--ha.

Me being so hard core...and pensive...look out world!

Some of the Mennonites with Disabilities group members watching Dave--our maintenance wonder man--clean up the garage. better than a reality show i'd bet.