A Chance to Die

Thursday night provided little sleep due to insomnia -- yet again I faced another school day with four hours of sleep. Classes dragged and I struggled through the day on several caffeinated drinks, returning home in the afternoon with just enough time to pack before leaving for a camp out.

[Our church's JV/Varsity Awana group had a camp out over the weekend and they needed another adult female chaperone and driver, so I volunteered at the last minute to come help out.]

So I came home from classes, helped Jer finish packing the van, and took off for church to meet the rest of the carpool -- decked out in camouflage. Besides Jer, I had two other little boys in the van with me -- Joshua and Craig (both 12). They became my troops and I became their Colonel Carey. With one command I could have them at attention and saluting me -- "Ma'am, yes ma'am!" It was great. Even though I'm five feet tall and anything but intimidating, I still get quite a bit of respect from the opposite gender -- especially little boys.

The kids kept me up most of the night -- either talking with a new JV girl who needed to talk (vent) or trudging around with the boys looking for an imaginary raccoon -- necessitating five Dr. Peppers to keep me going. It was fun, though. I finally crawled into my tent and dozed off for an hour before receiving a prank call from Brent H. on my cell phone. Then the girls were up giggling and talking most of the night. And there was some demon-possessed cat that kept jumping onto the tent and making strange noises.

This morning the kids played several different games and I found myself playing medic -- a girl fell on her head after being catapulted (thankfully no nerve damage or fractures occurred), another had a foot cramp and needed an ice pack, scrapes to be cleaned... those kids never cease to amaze me.

Jer and I just returned home about half an hour ago -- utterly exhausted and thoroughly filthy -- when Mom told us we had a wedding to attend tonight. So much for the nap. I've got a few hours to shower and do homework before leaving again. Due to lack of sleep and other factors, I will most likely cry during the wedding and make an absolute fool of myself.