Young Love

As of Monday, June 27th (I think that is the right date?), young love has been blossoming in the air at camp.  Girls have received addresses and cabin names, and so have the men of the Alpine Camp for Boys.  I sadly have to admit that the Alpine Dance ranks up with my favorite parts of camp (namely Sundays).  Not the entire dance necessarily, just the very beginning of it, when the boys arrive.  So imagine this, you have spent 16 days at an all girls camp.  Yes, completely girls except the owner and maintenance guys.  All that you have had in your life is estrogen.  There are a couple type of personality types - girls that get along better with guys, girls who flourish from the attention of guys, and girls who just think boys have cooties.  So, whichever combination you are, it brings some sort of excitement or complete rejection of this night.  For me it brings excitement, and for the majority of camp it brings excitement as well.  So, the young boys (2nd-5th) are supposed to arrive at 5:45.  The forest girls line up, waiting to hear the bell ringing that announces the arrival of the boys.  You can feel their anticipation and their excitement.  You can see the look on some girls' faces that boys have cooties, and then you can see the sisters who have been missing their brothers wait impatiently.  All sorts of emotions.  Then the bell rings.  The buses pull through the front gates.  And the girls go crazy.  There are shouts of excitement, girls are running in the road, counselors are chasing them down getting them out of the road so they don't get hit by the bus, even the girls who were nervous get giddy.  The boys step off the bus, and everyone just looks at each other.  Complete awkwardness that makes my heart so happy.  

This is young camp love.  Have I ever experienced it?  Nope, but I have witnessed it.

Animals

So, during lunch about a week and half ago, Gazell sends a note out to the head hancho table that reads, "we caught an albino racoon."  Ha.  So all of camp got to go see the racoon.  Here it is.

How many times in your life do you get to see an albino raccoon?  The South Georgia peeps AKA AC and Mel Dark have said that it is not a raccoon.  It is some sort of possum.  I would like to think that it is a mix.  But apparently animals don't mix in the wild unless they are forced to by humans.  Hence a donkey + horse = mule.  This isn't natural.  Who knew?  

These are the little birdies that were living outside of Hemlock.  I would like to shout out to my mother that they ALL lived, and they ALL flew away free the other day.  Jen has decided that I killed her baby birds that were living in our garage this summer.  I closed the garage door one night having no idea that there were baby birds in it that needed the door to be open so their mamma bird could get back in.  Jen calls me the next day from the beach asking me if I had closed the door.  I replied "Yes."  And she started freaking out.  So, I went to open the door.  A couple days later (graduation maybe?), she informs me that I killed her baby birds because I closed the door.  So, Mom, these birdies above have redeemed me.

No Mail

There's a man named James Ray.  He works at the Mentone Post Office.  James Ray wouldn't allow Amy to come get the mail.  So, it is a Saturday.  There will be no mail at Rest Hour.  There may be chaos today. Maybe some crying.  This day will go down in DeSoto history.  At least on the 4th of July there is a reason for no mail.  Today the reason is: James Ray.

I'm Going to Wash That Kitty Cat

Meet Colton.  He’s my little cousin and Natalie and Tate’s little brother.  He is definitely the cutest kid ever.  I now have my fingers crossed for a ginger, but I don’t think that dream is going to be feasible.  I also figured that I needed a live kitty cat on the Kitty Cat Diary Gone Viral site, and what better?  Colton is going to wash that kitty cat.

Nature Strikes Again

This is the Hiwassee River.  Or as I like to call it the Hiwussy.  Because in all honesty, the river is pretty tame.  There are some rapids on it, mainly class I and II rapids, so yes pretty tame.  BUT, the real obstacles are the rocks.  The river normally is low, so rafts get stuck on the rapids constantly.  Today though it wasn’t too bad.  I went with all of the 6th graders at camp, staff, and the infamous Emily Shuler.  Three of us get to be kayakers and everyone else is on rafts.  So the three kayakers were Caroline, Bethea, and I.  Kayaking on the Hiwassee = pulling the stuck rafts off of the rocks in the middle of rapids.  That’s where my story unfolds today.

The Stairs is a rapid that is extremely shallow and is probably about 10-15 yards long. Pulling up the rear, I see that Bethea is already helping one raft become unstuck and that three others were lodged on rocks.  I spot Grace Hooper’s raft and start making my way there.  Well, I hit a rock, the kayak flips, my feet get lodged under a rock, my knees go forward and bang into the rock, and I am stuck on the rapid somehow still clinging to my kayak but not my paddle.  My paddle is lazily floating down the rapid like a champ, more graceful than any of the rafts today.  Now trying to flip my kayak around was tricky because the water was flowing pretty rapidly, and I didn’t want to float down the rest because I knew there were rocks looming to bruise me, so I decided to leap onto my kayak headfirst down the rest of the rapid.  Sorry Grace, for the unhelpful help.  

Nature got me again.  I’m still not sure who is winning.  I think Nature might be (I have decided to personify it because I feel like it needs some respect).

Well, tomorrow I’m venturing out again.  It is the 2nd attempt at a backpacking trip. There is a 30% chance of rain and thunderstorms throughout the afternoon (the first attempt had a 30% chance and it stormed all day, so it was cancelled).  Bring it on Nature.  Give me your best shot.    

Brian and Jessica Versus Wild

Well, you won’t believe it.  It was my half day yesterday.  What a day.  What a day!  All my babies came up to see me: Brian, Mallard, and Lola.  We had a splendid lunch. Went to sunshine cafe got a cinnamon roll for dessert that we never got to eat.  Went to MIracle Pottery to get a mug for Brian’s sister, and we come back to a completely destroyed car.  The dogs finished off the sweet potato fries and the cinnamon roll. Looking back at it, I am extremely glad that they had a little bit more food in their bellies.  

Then, we decided to go to the canyon.  We went to a lookout to begin with and stood in wonder at how beautiful it was.  How hidden of a treasure Little River Canyon is. Then we proceeded to the Little Two Mile Trail (which is actually 1/10 of a mile.) There were some clouds rolling in, and of course we were all for going down, hoping it would blow by pretty quickly (Brian and I’s relationship started the night after a day of storming that we went hiking in Auburn with some friends).  So we like storms, but we were hoping that it was going to clear up quickly.  I’m pretty white, and was hoping for the sun to reach my body and give me some vitamin C.  That didn’t happen.

Let me start by saying that I locked our phones and my wallet in the glove box.  Just taking necessary precautions.  I then took my key off the key chain so I could stick it in the little inside pocket that running shorts so conveniently contain.  So we hiked down, carrying Mallard the entire way because she is hurt and is currently a tripod dog.  Lola was loving it, and she looked beautiful against the green and brown backdrop.  Such an adventurous dog leading the way down the steep trail.  We make it to the bottom and hop in the water.  It is so beautiful there.  The dogs were running around exploring like crazy people.  And then the sky opened up on us and it started pouring rain.  BUT, the canyon water felt like a hot tub compared to the temperature outside of the water.  So we stayed and enjoyed ourselves.  

Eventually we look over and Lola has my yellow running shorts in her mouth.  She’s sprinting around tossing her head like she’s got something good in her mouth.  We think nothing of it and keep enjoying ourselves.  Eventually the lightening was getting closer, so we decided to head on out.  I pick up my shorts, feel for my key, and my stomach drops realizing the key is not there.  Oh no, Lola had flung it somewhere or buried it.  So we look for it.  Don’t forget it is still pouring down rain.  We’re searching, I’m praying, Brian is on all fours digging around in the sand, the puppies are running like maniacs around and around.  We tried to convince Lola to show us the place she had hidden the key.  I am convinced she ate it.  Brian looks at me and says, “Do you know what to do with hypothermia?”  Of course, Kitty Cat Diary knows all about Wilderness and Remote First Aid.  He was cold, and his scar was a deep purply color. So, after about 20 minutes of searching I look at Brian and say, “We need to pray together.”  So we huddle up, pray.  Keep looking.  I from time to time am looking up into the sky saying “Come on Jesus!”  Well Jesus did not want us to find that key.  So, we decide to hike back up and hope it is laying on the trail somewhere.  As Brian is hiking up I tell him, “I wish that we had Harry Potter powers and we could say accio key and it would fly straight to us.”  But we all know that doesn’t work.  We make it to the top, it is still pouring down rain.

Brian now starts trying to break into my car using sticks.  Jesus didn’t want that to work either.  We tried that for a while, I am standing in my two piece.  Mallard and Lola are shivering, and Brian is in his swimsuit.  At this point, Brian decides to go back and look for the key again.  Because we are now contemplating breaking a window.  I would say about an hour and a half has passed, we have not seen one car nor have we had any luck getting into the car.  Brian leaves me his pocket knife in case any sketchballs come by, so I can protect myself.  What a sweet boyfriend.  He also takes Lola so she can get her blood flowing again.  Mallard and I stay with the car.  I recently found out that Brian was down there singing, “Don’t my eyes fail me right now! Don’t my eyes fail me right now!”  I was at the top singing about most Merciful God hear our plea.  I can’t think of it at the moment but we sing it at fellowship, so I will update you on that next Sunday.  Mallard and I also took some laps around the car, which only made us colder and not warmer.

Brian makes it back up, and Jesus did not want him to find the key again.  At this point, we are contemplating breaking a window because it had been about 2 hours plus some, there were no signs of cars, no way to walk somewhere to get help, so we decide 5 more minutes.  Yet we really don’t know what is 5 more minutes, but we wait what we think is 5 minutes.  No sound of life, then we start yelling “HELP!”  No sign of cars.  We have decided to break the window at this point.  Brian gets his pocket knife and tries to break the glass with the butt of it.  Well, Jesus didn’t want it to break.  I am now praying for God to send His help.  Over and over and over again.  Brian now finds a bigger rock and starts trying to break the glass.  Apparently my car is made very well. Thanks Dad for such a safe car.  Finally, it broke, we grabbed the towel, stuck the pups in the back and let them eat their food.  They then cuddled up with each other.  Brian has cuts over the front of his arm that he has no feeling in, sorry baby.  But we got in, and we started semi-warming up.  My hands were tingling from defrosting.    

Now we are trying to break into the LOCKED glovebox.  Why did I do that to ourselves? We were sticking all kinds of things into that lock from bobby pins, to forks, to our knives, to other keys.  Jesus did not want us to open that glovebox either.  At this point, it had been at least 3+ hours since we were stranded.  Brian’s tent was in the back of my car, and we were contemplating setting up camp.  There was still no sound of civilization or a car coming close to us.  I told him, that at midnight (camp desoto curfew), camp would realize that I wasn’t back and would come look for us, and they knew we had planned on going to Little River Canyon (thanks 147 Hours for this tip). So, until then we just had to stay warm.  The first stage of hypothermia is shivering, and cold.  Eventually you become sluggish, pale, start having shallow breathing.  The cure is body warmth.  Ha, that could’ve been interesting.

So, about four hours have elapsed.  And, Brian hears a car.  He runs into the road, and the truck pulls over.  He explains the situation, and they let us use their phone.  I call Thomas Foster (in order to read this correctly you must pronounce the th instead of making it sound just like a T).  I tell him he needs to call Camp DeSoto and let them know that we are stranded.  Meanwhile, Brian is talking to the two people in the car.  I hear him saying that they can give us a ride and call a tower.  So I hang up with Thomas because he was just blabbing and it seemed like we have it under control.  The man told us that we needed to get it towed out of the Canyon because people around the area would strip the car of the tires, radio, and anything else that could possibly buy them some dope (Brian told me later that he was cracking up at me because my mouth was hanging wide open).  So, we accept the ride, no pocket knife for me on the inside of the cab, although Brian wanted to slip me one apparently.  They only had room for one of us, so I hop in the cab with Brian’s sister’s gift wrapped mug, and Brian hops in the bed of the truck with our two puppies, and the people’s two full grown dogs.  

We start riding down the road and poor Brian is just chilling in the back.  It’s freezing cold and still drizzling.  We pull over at a gas station, and we realize how far we would’ve had to walk to get some help.  We get the number of the tower and call them. We hop back in the car.  The lady starts talking to me about how she heard I graduated from Auburn, and knew I was from the South.  It semi-freaked me out, but apparently Brian and her had some deep conversations while I was in the gas station with the man. A little farther down the road, the lady starts talking about how they never go to the canyon on the way home because it always adds extra time, but tonight for some reason she wanted to go that way.  I told her that I had been praying the entire time for help to come.  And they came.  Jesus wanted that older couple to come and help us. Throughout the ride we talked about the storms and tornados that devastated surrounding areas, autism, how they met.  I finally introduced myself about 20 minutes down the road, and they told me their names were Susan and Spirit (he also refers to himself as Lewis on the phone.  Spirit = Indian name perhaps?).  Poor Brian is still in the bed of the truck.  Two deer sprint out in front of the car, and I am praying Spirit does not slam on the breaks.  He doesn’t.  Thank goodness.  Brian told me that he started petting one of their dogs and that dog proceeded to try and hump his legs. Hilarious.  Spirit also offered me a cigarette, and it ran through my mind several times to accept the offer.  But I restrained myself.   

We get back to camp, thank our angels Susan and Spirit for all of their help and being so kind to drive us back to Camp DeSoto.  They hand us the number for the tower. And we were back at camp, safe, sitting on the porch of the gate house (Phil and Marsha’s porch who are the owners of the all girl’s camp).  I’m still in my two piece which is super inappropriate for camp, and there is Brian.  Night activity is still going on.  I run to my cabin, grab some dry clothes, and a sweatshirt for Brian.  

Anyway, we make it back to DeSoto State Park to get Brian’s keys to his car, and make it back to Camp DeSoto.  At this point, I am crying.  Crying because it was not how the day was supposed to go, crying because Brian was leaving, crying because I won’t see him for another 2/3 weeks, crying because all I wanted to do was cuddle but I was having to go back to camp, crying because I didn’t really know why I was going back to camp, and just plain crying.  It was a mix of emotions.  

It was an adventurous day to say the least.  An adventure that we did not have on our list (we have an adventure bucket list), but I guess it is now one to add it to.  And for those of you who don’t know Brian, you should meet him.  Best boyfriend in the entire world.  Proved it even more yesterday.  Wonderful, couldn’t be happier with him and life.  

So, I am still not sure who won, the wild or us?  It is something that I probably will not ever know.  I am going to offer icecream to the campers who get to go to the canyon, if they find my key.  They will all have icecream on me.  I feel like it is long gone, or it is traveling around in the belly of Lola.  Who knows.  Still love life.  

The Joys of Life

I have recently been reminded of the simple joys in life.  It’s singing your heart out to Justin Beiber’s “Baby” and dancing to Miley Cyrus’s “Party in the USA.”  It is getting to sleep during a rest hour and being so grateful for it.  It is getting smacked by a grasshopper in the face to wake up before morning watch.  It is strong coffee that is good for the soul.  It is knowing that Brian is on the way to see me.  It is sitting on a porch in the rocking chair soaking up the good life.  It is being able to walk around and have good conversations and laughs.  It is the love of family.  It is the wonder of children.  It is friends who constantly accept and love you the way that you are.  It is finding a fake cockroach in my bed.  It is nature.

This is a picture that my wonderful friend photographer Katherine captured of my cousin and I.  This is what happiness is.  Wonderful.  Wonderful life.

Another Day Another Dollar

GOOOOOODMORNING blog world.  I woke up to a world this morning full of excitement because TODAY IS CIRCUS DAY!  Yes it sure is.  I am looking forward to feeling sick this evening as I gorge on the food served for the day… cotton candy, snow cones, rice krispy treats, animal crackers, lemonade, pizzas, pretzels, and corn dogs (don’t forget the roasted peanuts later tonight).  Yes all of this food will constitute my dinner tonight.  I know you are jealous.  

Before the glory of circus day begins I must say that I woke up smelling like campfire. Kelsie, Katherine, and I put on a fun cookout last night for the seniors in which they roasted their own hotdogs (or weiners as one of the cooks would say).  It was a ton of fun.  And then we swept.  Back to the campfire.  I surprisingly do not like this smell because it tends to permeate my entire being and then give me a headache.  So, I made sure to change all my clothes and to thoroughly spray myself down with febreeze this morning.  It worked like a charm.  I have not smelled any campfire scent for a while now. 

So, for anyone curious, Brian and I went on a date Saturday night.  And it was great. The puppies were wonderful as well.  They remembered me!  I get to see them on Tuesday too!

FYI - the title of this post is what I sang this morning after prayer to wake myself up.  

Also, sorry about the typos.  I don’t re-read what I write and after having read some entries I now realize that I make some egregious mistakes.  Sorry for that peeps.  

Visit From Three of My Favorites

My babies are coming today!!!!!  All three of them :) What a happy day.  

Basketball

Sometimes I like to think that I am an amazing basketball player.  Although, I am dressed in a Auburn colored tennis skirt and a state tennis championship shirt because I wanted to look hardcore this morning.  I guess it is a prissy hardcore look though.  Whateves.  Anyway, after putting size C batteries in 4 boom boxes, I tried to shoot all the empty battery cases into the trashcan.  I failed miserably but looked good doing it.    

Oh the things that are said....

This kind of goes along with losing my mind.  There are quite some hilarious things that are said in this office between us girls.  Especially because Katherine and I are together 24/7 and we both are semi-losing our minds.  I just have to document them because they are so hilarious.  First, JAM told stated today that he “flicks your bic.”  Which is another way of stating something else NOT dirty.  We were quite shocked.  I might’ve turned a little red.  Katherine and I were talking about crying today.  She has always been a crier, but I told her that “ever since I started dating Brian, I have found my tear ducts.”  (Brian is the boy.  I got a letter from him today and starting jumping up and down like a giddy little school girl.  Yes, he still has that effect on me, and I LOVE it.)  The last hilarious thing that has been said, that is probably a you had to be there moment was Emily asking us to make Circus Day posters.  Katherine told her, “I just don’t have good handwriting.”  To which I replied, “I do.”  Ha, not even thinking about being modest.  Sorry Katherine.  It gave us a good laugh though.  Peace out cub scouts. 

Losing My Mind

Well, ever since college, I feel like I have slowly been losing my mind steadily.  I feel like it might have something to do with the fact that I honestly have no idea what I am doing in August.  BUT, I have many ideas naturally.  Ideaphoria is one of my gifts in life says Johnson O’Connor (this is an aptitude test my father made me take a long time ago… ideaphoria = constantly creating new ideas, this happens to me all the time, so I guess they were right).  My boyfriend thinks that I am just naturally crazy due to two different reasons.  The first reason is that I just graduated with a psychology major and plan to continue in the psychology field.  The second is that he came over to my house one day to find me knitting.  Add that to the fact that I like cats, and it was like his worst nightmare was coming true.  No one show him this blog.  Thanks.  Anyway, I am currently working a job that demands very different parts of my self to be challenged.  I am constantly cutting, drawing, organizing, alphabetizing, folding, etc.  Needless to say, I am dropping everything.  Spilling drinks in my lap everyday.  And just a few hours to go I cut the top of my finger with some scissors.  Don’t worry it was just a little baby cut, no need to pull the diary out.  Anyway, got to run will catch you up more on this topic later.  Peace out.

The Diary

The infamous Kitty Cat Diary that contains three entries from 2000, and now anything you would EVER want to know about Wilderness and Remote First Aid.  So if you are in trouble.  Do not fear.  Kitty Cat Diary will be there.

Yes, keep out.  Please.

Explanation

So, I caved and gave in.  Yes, I have decided to blog.  Ha, it is kind of funny.  In May of 2011, I was running through my room trying to find anything to write on for Wilderness and Remote First Aid trainined.  Well, I found an old diary.  Of course, it had kitty cats on it and a clasp on the side to keep out intruders.  It was wonderful.  It also contains three entries from 2000… two about a boy who liked me and then didn’t like me in a span of three days and the last about becoming a woman and the confusion that comes with it.  Needless to say it not only entertained everyone at Wilderness training but revived the desire to write.  So why not write a blog.  I come from Psychology and Spanish, so writing is not my forte, but that’s ok.  Bare with me.  So here it is, Kitty Cat Diary Gone Viral.  The name will probably change some point soon, but who knows.  Maybe not.  There is no lock on this blog, just the opportunity to freely read.