List #75: Things I am really really going to miss this summer

List #75: Things I am really really going to miss because they wouldn't hire us back at YMCA Camp Miller in Sturgeon Lake, Minnesota. (in no particular order, and not all-inclusive)

1. The Bell
2. The Old Fireplace
3. Daycampers (Mark, Logan, Aedan, Landon, Mason,... the whole lot of them)
4. Seeing another great group of CiLTs grow up to be coworkers
5. C(ampers) i(n) L(eadership) T(raining): and teaching what it means
6. The Four Core Values (wait, nope, we took those with us when we left)
7. Roadrunner plus Polar Bear (95% of the time, for the last 10 years)
8. The Chapel
9. ILAC
10. forgetting to water my mom's donated plants
11. Bernie (and even Sammy)
12. Little Baby Ducks, Old Pick Up Trucks
13. Tradition
14. Spruce Cabin
15. Garber Lodge
16. The "Colonel" card
17. "Chippy" (my canoe paddle)
18. The "Voyeur" pack from tripping
19. (N^2)^3 Every friday at 6:15
20. The Pinewoods
21. Just Dirt, Piracy, Sock Puppet PEGs
22. Oh-penniiiiiiiiiiiing CAMP Fiiiiire
23. Jello Cake
24. Shelley and the Kitchen Staff
25. The smell of the buildings on the first day back
26. The little bench at the Chapel
27. The full moon off the end of the dock
28. Paddling around the Island
29. Prisoner's Base
30. Making up new names for Run Til You Puke night games
31. RtyP in the Green Section (Rabbit, Rabbit, cross my field)
32. Explaining the Rules to CH to the kids
33. Explaining the Rules to CH to the staff (thanks Justin D)
34. Feeling like I'm giving back to somewhere that's given me almost everything
35. Being at a place where I can actually be myself
36. Helping kids learn archery
37. Helping kids learn in an environment based on fun and joy
38. Playing Mafia with the CiLTs
39. Playing Bocce with the CiLTs
40. Playing FOTAY with the CiLTs
41. The 3.X "C"s of Teamwork
42. The "No" rule of initiatives
43. Leading Initiatives in general
44. Toobeez
45. Parachute games
46. Creepy
47. Chops
48. Gumball
49. GNails
50. The rest of the dedicated and committed staff
51. Hop-errrrrrrrrrrs Oooooooout ofthewater
52. THEME DAYS
53. Working for a boss that listens (nope, I have that out here in MD too)
54. Getting a cool free T-shirt to wear with pride
55. Breakfast Pizza
56. The Rocking Chairs (because I'm a good person and never stole one from McCleod)
57. Closing Campfire Song
58. Leading off "If I Weren't A..."
59. The Bee Skit (though we retired from it)
60. Every other good skit
61. Creative Cabin Skits
62. Re-telling stories at Campfire from way back when Scott was the director
63. Hiding in-bounds for Counselor Hunt
64. All of the wonderful people I worked with through the past 14 years
65. Preserving Old Traditions (an unintentionally creating new ones)
66. Arrowheads and Dragonflies (and not adding 19 to my headboard this year (even though I think I pre-made one last year...))
67. Writing my name in the Spruce Cabin Cabinet another time
68. Working with people I've known since they were Pathfinders
69. The Glorious Exhaustion that hits you at 7 p.m. on a Friday Night
70. The Energy of Getting Ready on Sunday Morning
71. Sunday Morning Table Duty and leftovers
72. The Special "Mid-summer" meeting
73. Water Baseball
74. The Rubber Chicken (he might still be in the Initiatives Bag)
75. Using My Initiatives bag (I hope I didn't foolishly leave it last summer thinking it would be waiting for me next year, because that is my stuff and _not_ being donated)
76. Donating 1 paycheck's worth of stuff back to Camp each year (tables, markers, whiteboards, lacrosse gear, etc.)
77. Finally making my time capsule
78. All the things I learned from working with so many different people
79. Shooting a Gun, Riding a Horse
78. The Siesta Song
79. Alive Awake Alert Enthusiastic ! (the Exclamation point is key)
80. The feeling of the new (even after 18 years) on the very first day of staff training
81. Putting in the Dock
82. Setting up the boats
83. Koob
84. Kickball
85. Clark and Bruce
86. Standing in the office doorjamb
87. Ron Ball
88. Telling stories of the past to teach the next generation
89. Realizing that I was, to very, very many people, what my great counselors were to me (and not even feeling worthy to be put in the same category as people like Ashley, Jamie, Jal, Jeremy, Josh, etc.)
90. Making the "This is why we wear shoes" announcement
91. Boys-side Check-in
92. Working with my Sister and Brother (and Mom on the committee)-- I doubt I'll ever work side by side with both siblings again. Camp used to be about Family. (even more than Home was about family).
93. Feeling valued and appreciated (and almost believing it)
94. Singing a different song (not sung yet that summer by anyone) song at each campfire.
95. Fun Limit Infinity
96. Joining different cabins for meals
97. Teaching Styles of Leadership
98. Paper golf, musical chairs, counselor magic
99. Jesus on one end, Norm on the other
100. "The Final Countdown"

okay, I'm going to stop there for now. I may fire off another hundred or so the next time I have 20 minutes to spare.