It’s been hot. Ridiculously hot. I’m from Texas, so I’m used to the heat and humidity, but being out here by the lake in all this rainy, swampy grossness totally sapped my energy during Week 5. Luckily, my cabin was only half full, and my girls were marvelously well-behaved, so even though I was feeling tired and apathetic and half-wishing that I’d picked a job with some AC, we still managed to have a fun and enjoyable week. Former counselors have warned me about the weeks 5-6 blues - it’s the point in the summer when the fun and spiritual growth doesn’t seem to quite outweigh the heat and mosquito bites and the end of the summer seems a million days away. By weeks 7-8 it’s gone, mostly because the end is near and nostalgia kicks in.
I must mention one particular incident. Every July 4th Mid-South hosts a pretty awesome fireworks display for the campers and anyone from the community who’d like to come out. I’m from a big city and I’ve seen some intense fireworks, and I was impressed by quality of the lights show, especially for a little Bible camp in rural Tennessee. Every Thursday we have a bonfire, and we burn just about everything: brush, trees knocked down by recent storms, old furniture, and even the empty fireworks boxes.
Except this time, the fireworks boxes weren’t so empty. Midway through the bonfire devo we heard bangs like gunshots and saw brightly colored lights zoom across the field, narrowly missing campers. We were all scared half to death (except a few 12-year-old boys, who thought it was the coolest thing they’d ever seen and probably went home to attempt to burn some fireworks themselves), but fortunately no one was seriously burned.
I’m a bit behind in my blogging, but I’ll have something up about week 6 soon!
