Things worked out for me and I became a last minute addition to the counselor team. Some campers were switched around and I became Evan's counselor. Evan is a very personable young man who loves the attention of the female counselors. It didn't take long for him to begin to wish that one of the young female counselors were his. Danielle, a first time counselor, was the primary target of his affection. It didn't take long for my efforts to become "not good enough". I don't know how many times I heard "It takes a strong woman to be a good counselor." What he really meant was that he would rather have Danielle helping him.

Because I was a last minute counselor, Evan was slated to sleep in a cabin with two older (by older I mean not teenagers) female counselors, Sandy and Doris. Evan was a big Michigan fan and a big Penn State hater. Sandy and Doris caught onto this and picked on him about it all week. When he was sleeping they painted his fingernails Penn State blue and White. One night they even put blue and white streaks in his hair. He would yell at them but you could tell he was enjoying the battle.

One evening they talked to a local farmer and had some animals brought in. We had our own little petting zoo. The kids really liked it. There was a sheep, calf, goat, chicken, kittens, and puppies. Evan was little leary of the lamb. But he did manage to get close enough to touch it. When he touched it, it let out a "baa..." Evan jumped and screamed. He was convinced that the sheep tried to bite him and he would not go near it again.

My Brother Jay was assigned Mark and a new camper Shawn. Don and Virginia had met Shawn before but did not realize at the time the challenge he could be. Jay was more than up for the challenge. Shawn didn't sleep well and when he woke up he would yell, loudly. Jay ended up spending most of his nights in the main room of the lodge. He was trying to avoid Shawn keeping everyone else awake. I would try to come down stairs early in the morning to at least give Jay a break to take a shower. As the week progressed Shawn started to respond to Jay. He knew who Jay was and would respond to him. When Shawn's parents arrived Thursday they said it was one of the first times that anyone actually kept Shawn. They had sat at home waiting for the call that we couldn't take him anymore, they couldn't believe he stayed the entire week. As they were leaving Shawn walked over and put his arms around Jay. That was one of the moments that this camp is all about.

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