Ok, So Back From....ahem...Death Camp....

Camp this weekend was great. I'll be talking about it on Episode 57 (Look for Episode 56 later this week - It's already been taped). While I can't share the identities of my campers, I think this picture kinda sums up my weekend....

...and there are many more (happy) stories. And no, Taffy, I'm not telling them to you before we tape.

I'm already ready to go back next April!

Ok, So FINALLY....

So, today was a good day for me, work wise. I feel like I got a LOT accomplished, and was even able to get home early from visits and checking on the Huffington Household. But all that pales in comparison to what happened in my 4th (of 6) visits today.

See, I have a young man who I have been working with for over a year, on and off. This 5th grader is the type of kid that is sweet, and will probably grow up to be a heartbreaker - HUGE blue eyes, thick blonde hair - but to say he is slow would be a understatement. He lost his aunt a year ago, and some other important family when he was very young (trying not to tell too much of his story because of, you know, confidentiality and all that...) Anyway, for the last year, I meet with him once every two weeks, and for the last year, I ask him how things are going, and for the last year, I get shrugged shoulders and "fine,""ok," or "good" as an answer to everything I have talked with the guidance staff at the school, and his teachers, and they all say that they think it's important for me to stay in there with him,that he will open up to me eventually. Against better judgement, I would keep seeing him, keep playing the same games, keep asking the same questions. He didnt like art, and talking to him was difficult. So we just played UNO. Again. And again. And again.


Today I walked into the school and told the guidance staff that I would probably be closing his case after today, that after a year of trying, that I wasn't sure how much I could do for him, and that I would refer his family to a counselor who could deal with some of the other issues in his life, and then should he be ready/able, I would come back to do the bereavement piece. She agreed, and called him down to the office for me.


I had jenga with me today, instead of UNO, because I am sick of playing UNO. I have written words related to family members, emotions, places and life events on some of the Jenga blocks. If you pull a block with a word on it, you have to ask another member of the group (or when working solo with a kid, the other person at the table) a question using that word. (example: the word on the block is "questions" "Do you have any questions about the medication Mom takes for her cancer?") We played Jenga for a while - same old behavior. The tower fell down eventually (I think it was me), and the blocks went all over the table.


I'm starting to put the blocks back in their container when I realize he is using the blocks that fell in front of him to build...stuff. It's not really a tower, it's no a person, it's just stuff. He reads one of the words that was on the fallen block. Then, like someone turned a knob, he starts talking about his mom who died when he was a baby.


And talks.


And talks.


And talks.


The whole time, he is playing with the blocks and I slowly pull the blocks I had put in the containher back out onto the table, and I start playing with them next to him. I am gently asking him questions about how he feels when other kids talk about their moms, and how he hasn't told anybody that his mom is dead. He talked about how when his aunt died, she was like a mom to him, and that it felt like he's lost two moms now, and it "isn't fair." He talked about how he doesn't remember anything about his mom, and how sometimes he watches videotapes of her with him when he was a baby and "hurt my brain trying to remember when that happened, but I can't, and it makes me really sad."


Eventually, I have to send him back to class. It's the end of the day, and he needs to get his bookbag and coat to get on the bus. As he gets up, I told him that he did a great job today, talking, and I thanked him for sharing all the stuff he told me.


And for the first time since I met him, this fucking kid smiles at me when he walked out of the room.

The pay sucks, but it's on days like this that I love my job.

Ok, So I Can Only IMAGINE The Comments From This Peanut Gallery...

So, as I said on the latest podcast, at work we are in the beginning stages of planning out annual camp for kids who have had a relative die. It's a HUGE undertaking, and one that I look forward to every year. This will be my 7th year as a counselor at the camp, and the kids I work with never cease to amaze me. I also mentioned on the latest show that I will be working with 2nd and 3rd grade boys, and was going to be co-facilitating the cabin with a coworker of mine, Kelly.

Well, things have...um, changed.

See we are going to have some people leaving our program in the next few weeks, and another one traveling out of the country. That leaves more less "veteran" counselors running cabins, and given that some of our staff have never actually run a camp cabin before, it makes sense that thay move things around a bit. So, today, it was decided that I would stay in the green cabin, and Kelly would co-facilitate with Liz, a newbie, in the pink cabin, which is 2nd and 3rd grade girls (aka the little princesses.)

Apparently, this disappointed Kelly, who wanted to stay with the boys, citing they are easier to deal with and less high maintenance. So, after the meeting, Kelly, Kathy (my supervisor) and I all sat down to look at other options.

Five minutes later, I am being asked to run the little girl's cabin.

Five minutes after that, I'm accepting the responsibility

Five minutes still, I'm freaked out.

I will be making our camp's history as being the first male to run a female cabin in 21 years. It's kinda cool, but I am used to dealing with little boys, who think fart jokes are funny, and want to throw a ball around when we have downtime. I work with little girls all the time on a one on one basis, but to have a cabin full of them? FOR A WHOLE WEEKEND? I am excited and a bit scared of this challenge all in one breath.

Oh, and did I mention that for Friday night, I get to wear a pink t-shirt with my name written on the back of it, and a big "'08" on it (our camp theme this year is baseball.) I think I'm most excited about that!!! :)

Drum, I have your volunteer application in my car.