Girls Camp: Singing is Life

Just thinking about our church Girls Camp brings back a flood of so many memories from my youth. My poor kids have had to sit through me telling them about how totally cool my Girls Camp was. Plus, they've had to sit through AND LEARN the camp songs I sang. Because singing was a really, really, really big deal at Girls Camp for us -- and perhaps not so much around here for the local girls.

But all that will change THIS WEEK.

Because the stake made the fatal mistake of calling Marilyn Huffaker to be the stake camp song leader this year. Those poor people are not going to know what hit them. (If I get to do it as I want to!)

For years, I haven't gone to Girls Camp. They asked me once, years ago, but it was a particularly busy year for our family and our family business, and I turned them down. Todd said that it wasn't my time at Camp. I could and should go later -- when my girls were old enough to go to camp (which is ages 12-18) -- and I should go THEN. And THEN, when my girls got old enough to go to camp, nobody asked me. I tried volunteering, and they turned me down cold. ("Oh, we've got plenty of help!" they said).  ::sighs::

So last year, I was sitting in a meeting, and heard that for the upcoming camp, the camp kitchen help was in a bit of a crisis, because those who were supposed to help the head cook had backed out. So, I volunteered. (They wouldn't even let me go all week -- just 2 days -- saying that I had my little girl at home. And Emma did fine with Daddy while I was gone.) While I was there, I couldn't help but break into song. I kept asking the song leader, "Do you know this one? How about this one??" And let me tell you, this California Girl has a ton of songs that they don't know around here.

At the end of Camp, I told the head cook that I'd love to come back next year (meaning this year) to help  him out again.

What I actually got, as you've read above, is called to be the song leader. Apparently, that's what you get when  you start singing Camp Songs around camp. And as a Seminary Teacher during the other nine months of the year, it leaves summer open for things like a Girls Camp calling. And it's really a two-part assignment, because they still want me to help in the camp kitchen, too. I'm not sure how that will work, because singing at Camp should happen almost constantly.

I remember singing for our meals (that's 3x a day), singing at campfire, singing on  hikes, and singing whenever we had a bit of downtime together. I wonder if they'll let me sing with the girls that much this week? We'll see what happens.

I had wanted to make a new Camp songbook. When I typed up everything I could remember, I had over sixty songs that were NOT a part of the local songs. I knew I would need to hand out lyrics for all of those songs. So I asked what the budget might be, to cover the costs of new songbooks. I had visions of spiral-bound books, complete with all the songs, and some little graphics of trees and campfires for good measure. I was ready. What was the budget???

Zero.

Nothing. There's no money for it. Ummmm....... that kind of puts a cramp in my song style here, people. (If it weren't so pricey, I would have just bitten the bullet and gone ahead and printed them up on my own, and not worried about reimbursement.)

Given the no-budget status, they asked me to condense it down to 2 sheets of paper, printed front-and-back. So, I came up with a songbook supplement, xeroxed onto two sheets of paper, front-and-back, popped a cover on it, and made all the copies at the church library. Cost: nothing. (Well, nothing from the Camp budget. Yes, I do realize there is still a cost for all the paper and toner.)

Since I couldn't possibly fit all the 60+ songs onto just those sheets, I picked some of the best ones (or my favorite ones), reduced the font size, and crammed as many as I could. I think there's 21 in there. Maybe next year, I can hold out for a songbook budget.

If they even want me back. Maybe they'll kick me out after this year!

But I did make one investment. I found that I needed a long-arm stapler to assemble my booklets, and I didn't have one. So I bought one. Todd always says you need to have the right tool for the job, right??? It was as good an excuse as any!

Those lavender-colored books are last year's songbooks. The yellow/gold colored covers are my new supplements. They're certainly not made to last. And I don't even have a full count of how many there are there. It wasn't my first choice of how to make them, but by doing the supplements the same way as the previous ones, at least they'll stack easily and they look like they belong together.

The girls and I leave tomorrow morning for Girl's Camp. It's only four days -- well, three-and-a-half days really -- don't get me started on THAT subject!

I just hope they let me SING with the girls.

And I'm pretty darn disappointed that they've already shot down singing my really-obnoxious "Announcements" song.  Of course, since I taught them that last year, maybe some will still remember it. And if I'm not the one who starts singing it, they can't really blame me, right.....???

[wink, wink]







P.S. And after Camp, we turn around and pack and prep to head down to Utah for Brandon and Cecilia's WEDDING! Can you believe it? Life is wild!