memories...

Since I didn't blog at all while I was actually at camp, I feel the need to do a little story telling now. I hope you enjoy

Story #1:

Ashley and I are the same person. Ashley, for those of you who don't know (which I realize is pretty much all of you) was my co-counselor at summer camp. She is amazing. She's from Florida/Alabama, is 22, married to Rob—the pottery master and head of pottery at camp—and is hilarious. She was a counselor here at camp last year too and I was so lucky to have her to help me through the trying times that are summer camp. It got to the point where we could complete each others sentences, one of us could tell our girls what we needed them to do then the other would enforce it without even missing a beat. We worked together at T-Shirt Factory (tie dying t-shirts) and one of us could nap while the other helped kids and then we would switch and there was never animosity or frustrations and she is seriously one of my best friends now. She calls me her other-other-half. We even made up our own tie dye fold called The Cashley (or Hugs and Kisses because it makes x's and o's when it's done). In short, I love Ashley Lugo.

Story #2:

We are not supposed to talk to our campers about our personal lives (to avoid awkward questions about drinking, virginity, and the like) so to help deflect questions about me and Jace we just told our campers that we were siblings which usually sparked the comment, "Oh yeah. You do look alike." Well, one night Jace and I sneaked away from one of the evening socials to microwave tiny delicious pies we had bought at Walmart the night before and then forgotten about. As we were trying to eat them without burning either our hands or our mouths Alex walked into the kitchen. He was complaining about how his parents were late picking him up for his night and day off because they were helping his brother move into his new apartment when all of a sudden, mid-sentence he stopped and, looking from me to Jace, asked, "Hey, are you guys brother and sister?" Without missing a beat I go, "Yup." Then he asked if we were twins to which I replied, "No. Not twins." When he wanted to know who was older Jace told him to guess. He guessed Jace (probably because he is taller) and Jace goes, "Yep. Good guess." Haha. The whole thing was hilarious because we were so serious about it the whole time and Alex did all the work: all we had to say was yes or no.

A week or two later Alex came up to us at an evening activity and asked us if we were really brother and sister, which we assured him we were. "Yeah, that's what I said too but those girls over there seem to think you are dating." "What?" I responded. "That's ridiculous." "I know!" and then he walked off.

Meanwhile, camp goes on and we forget about the whole thing. Then, during minicamp, Jace and I were standing together at another evening activity and for some reason he gave me a hug (probably because he said something and then I told him we were through and he had to make it up to me). Alex, unbeknownst to us, was sitting on a bench behind us and commented to Stephanie, who was sitting next to him, how cute it was that Jace was hugging his sister. Stephanie, understandably confused, asked who Jace's sister was. Alex, surprised, said, "Cassi." To which Stephanie responded, "Ummm... They're dating." It is at this point that seemingly out of nowhere Jace and I hear yelled from behind us, "YOU!!!" We turn around to see Alex, open mouthed, pointing at us while Stephanie is sitting next to him beside herself with laughter. Jace looked at me all confused and that's when I realized that the lie we had told weeks ago had come back to haunt us. Well, mostly to haunt Alex. We laughed and then went over to taunt him further. It made our night.

NOTE: The last day of camp Alex asked me if Jace and I were going to get married. I responded, "Oh yeah. We're actually already engaged." To which he responded, "Oh really?! WAIT! I hate you."

Story #3:

I taught my girls The Sweater Song. My 10 year old girls. And it was their favorite. I wrote out the words for them (editing the first line for their and my benefit) and we would sing it together and then they would ask me to play it for them on the guitar like every night so they could sing it. It completed me.

My favorite though was when we had a new group of girls come and the old girls wanted to teach the new girls the song. We played it through for them once and asked them what they thought. One of the girls said, "Well, it's a little inappropriate, don't you think? I mean, NAKED?" It was all I could do not to laugh. The 13 year old girls I had cabin-sat the night before were listening to songs like Birthday Sex and when I tried to tell them that was inappropriate they didn't seem to understand. So to have a song deemed inappropriate just because it had the word naked in it was such a shock to me: in a good way. I smoothed it over by explaining that the "naked" being referred to in the song was metaphorical: he just feels naked without his sweater; he's not actually naked. (I think it went right over her head.)