My Plants Aren't the Only Things Going to Pot

I'm back. I survived Girls' Camp, but while I was there I picked up a lovely bruise on my elbow.

The picture I have doesn't really do it justice, but it was a pretty nasty bruise, bright red and deep purple. Now it's green, brown, and yellow. The thing I love about this bruise is the shocked responses I got from people when I showed it to them. Some of the leaders were even more shocked and horrified when I hinted that the bruise was a result of my attempts to do heroine. The girls drove me to it! Actually it came from the string of a bow during the archery class. While I was at camp, I felt like one of the girls. I went canoeing and after training the girls on archery, I decided to try it again myself. I knew from my first attempts at archery in seventh grade P.E. that the string of the bow can leave a nasty mark, but after getting a few arrows to hit the red circle surrounding the bull's eye, I became heady with my archery prowess. And that's when I snapped my elbow with the string. But the good news is that my devastated basil plant now has new leaf buds on it, so that darn caterpillar isn't winning. I think that nasty green caterpillar either escaped the planter or buried itself in the dirt. As long as I remember to water the plant, maybe it will survive after all.

As for camp, it really was a great experience. I got to learn all about Girls' Camp without being responsible for any of it. Mostly I was just one more warm body there to hold things together, but otherwise, the stake Young Women presidency didn't really need me. They had everything planned and ready to go. Of course, things were fairly simple and the leaders worked hard to make sure the basics of camp were covered. We had skits every night and hikes and certification, and anything else was frosting on the cake. There was some trauma when we had a girl faint the first day (I think she was faking it just a little bit) and when one of the groups got lost on the hike. But I'm just glad that none of the girls decided to go skinny dipping by canoeing over to the far side of the river buck naked. Yes, that happened at my home stake's Girls' Camp this year. Lucky for them, no one thought to go looking for them after they left all their clothing on the far bank. More than anything, I was amazed by the love the stake leaders and ward leaders have for these young women. When a less-active girl arrived at camp, they got all teary-eyed because they had been praying that she would come to camp. And I got to see several different leadership styles and learn from all of them. It was quite an education.

The very next morning after I got home from Girls' Camp, my sister flew into town and my cousin also arrived in LA. My sister and I had bought tickets to go see Wicked (it was fabulous!) in Orange County long before I knew about Girls' Camp, and my cousin just happened to pick the same weekend to look for a place to live while she attends LA's fashion institute. Needless to say, Saturday was a bit crazy. I finally got a nap on Sunday, but I was up early again on Monday to go to Disneyland with my sister. I've got a few more days to rest before I'm off again to Utah for graduation. And when I get back, it will be time to start the moving process. I love being busy like this and what's to hate about Disneyland and Wicked, but all of this had led my husband to ask whether those vitamin C supplements I took at camp aren't amped up with something more than vitamins like meth. And in response to such questions, I just laugh like a crazy woman.