And I feel like hurling.
The inevitability of people not liking me, and me failing as a counselor swallow any chance of thinking about having a good time.
I open the door to the token prayer room and hold my breath.
We are early, so we are one of the first groups to show up.
I relax a little.
I've been praying about this. I know that God wouldn't send me here to be destroyed by kids with big egos. He brought me here to lead them.
It begins. We are given a paraphrased version of the rules and code of conduct, and we are sent to work on our teams flag.
Others go to Walmart to buy things to attach to their flag, while I and my co- counselor figure out what to do for our flag. Not many options, so we choose to free hand everything and sproose it up with glitter and feathers.
The flag took us forever, we finished the main details at around 1 in the morning with still things left to do. It was beautiful.
And so, it was then that I became a Firebird. Or so I thought.
I was determined to encourage the kids on the sports field and scream until my voice had left me.
Day 1: I wake up, and my voice is already gone. I didn't even have the chance to scream our cheer yet.
It's time for me to meet the girls I get to counsel for the week.
I put on my I'm-not-nervous-to-meet-you-all face on and walk into their rooms.
Holy cow. [moo]
Every one of them are the coolest people I could have ever imagined to meet. Each one equipped with their own personality and perspective on the world.
After meeting my girls, I begin to develope a sense of being comfortable.
I'm not sure how comfortable they were, with my screechy man voice and incredibly invasive sense of humor.
The rest of the week goes according to plan, with having to scrape some of my girls out of their beds in the morning, to coaching them on the field(and in their rooms because I don't even think the word "tidy" stuck in their brains),to leading them in prayer and worship during the services. I loved every moment with these girls.
I even made friends with other students, got told that I looked like River Song from Doctor Who, and got pushed into the pool.
It was a blast. I couldn't be more proud. My kids say that I was a great counselor, but I truly believe that it was them that had shaped me into a good counselor. God totally knew what he was doing.
So when I say I became a firebird at camp, that is an understatement.
I was a firebird at heart.
Stay orange my friends.
