Earlier this spring, I was asked to be the assistant stake camp director for our YW camp. It's a calling that I would have been petrified of in days past, but I'll be honest, at this stage of my life, I was actually pretty excited about it. My life was relatively calm at that time and, as long time blog readers might remember, I had callings in YW for several years (5ish years in Vienna and 2ish years in Pennsylvania), so I was excited to be able to get back to doing something I felt passionately about. I love working with young women and I love being a part of something that helps stretch young women to their full potential.
Little did I know when I committed to doing it, though, what absolute chaos my life was soon to become. In the weeks leading up to camp, we traveled out of the country, to Hawaii, my Dad got put on hospice care, I was in charge of a family reunion, we hosted a bunch of people at our house, I was getting two kids ready for their summer adventures, I hosted a baby shower, and basically I was about as busy and overwhelmed as I could be....all the while trying to process the difficult emotions that come along with your Dad dying and to fulfill my responsibilities as ASCD.
Looking back at that time now, I think being too busy might be better for me than being too open-ended with my time. Many of the days leading up to camp were 100% filled from morning to night, but somehow I not only "made" it, but I felt useful and fulfilled. I really don't like feeling like I don't have any free time, but I also really don't like feeling like the time I spend is not meaningful. Since I don't really have any friends in Utah, my calling is light, and I strongly feel like it's not the right time to get a job while Ellie is still at home, my life tends toward self-inflicted busy most of the time {hence the resurgence in blogging again}, rather than actually being busy.
When camp came along finally, it was just what I needed. It was time to unplug, enjoy being outside in a gorgeous setting, and just be. Most of my camp related responsibilities were for BEFORE and AFTER camp, so I found my time at camp to be not stressful at all. I got to enjoy meeting young women and getting to know the other stake leaders. I have felt quite lonely since moving away from VA three years ago, so getting to know people in a laid back environment was lovely!
I became somewhat of the allergy expert for the kitchen staff and got to put the knowledge I'd gained cooking for people with severe allergies to use....
Little did I know when I committed to doing it, though, what absolute chaos my life was soon to become. In the weeks leading up to camp, we traveled out of the country, to Hawaii, my Dad got put on hospice care, I was in charge of a family reunion, we hosted a bunch of people at our house, I was getting two kids ready for their summer adventures, I hosted a baby shower, and basically I was about as busy and overwhelmed as I could be....all the while trying to process the difficult emotions that come along with your Dad dying and to fulfill my responsibilities as ASCD.
Looking back at that time now, I think being too busy might be better for me than being too open-ended with my time. Many of the days leading up to camp were 100% filled from morning to night, but somehow I not only "made" it, but I felt useful and fulfilled. I really don't like feeling like I don't have any free time, but I also really don't like feeling like the time I spend is not meaningful. Since I don't really have any friends in Utah, my calling is light, and I strongly feel like it's not the right time to get a job while Ellie is still at home, my life tends toward self-inflicted busy most of the time {hence the resurgence in blogging again}, rather than actually being busy.
When camp came along finally, it was just what I needed. It was time to unplug, enjoy being outside in a gorgeous setting, and just be. Most of my camp related responsibilities were for BEFORE and AFTER camp, so I found my time at camp to be not stressful at all. I got to enjoy meeting young women and getting to know the other stake leaders. I have felt quite lonely since moving away from VA three years ago, so getting to know people in a laid back environment was lovely!
I made these gluten free ice cream sandwiches (with the GF cookies I had made at home) to be a special treat for the GF girls...
It ended up being a weirdly rainy few days (for Utah at least), so a lot of our activities were interrupted ...
I felt like I really connected with a few women and I thought I might have found my first Utah friends, but, alas, they ended up seeming to be interested to be Sunday friends only...like everyone else I've met in Utah.
We had a blast at the lip sync night. The brand new stake presidency put on a great performance...
And we had a couple energetic choreographers that made sure the stake leaders' performance was polished and very fun! {I'm in the red tophat and mint sweats}
I very much enjoyed being a part of YW camp, but, in the two weeks after camp ended, I went back to being super busy and my Dad passed away, so the let-down was huge. I'm happy to have more friendly faces to greet around town now, but I am definitely still searching for "my people" here. That's okay, though. It's been reaffirmed to me a million times in the last year that we are exactly where we're supposed to be right now...
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