sarah mcVey: Teen and Flathead!

Well its been two weeks since my last post and I swear I have not had a second to breathe and type anything out... until today... when i woke up to find my eyes bloodshot and gooey. pink eye. go figure. So here is the deal, I am stuck at camp by myself while the rest of the group spent the day at the water park in Missoula. bummer. But anyways done with the poor me story. but seriously, kinda poor me man.

Two weeks ago was our teen camp for people ages 14-18 that have had any diagnosis and either are in remission or are currently undergoing treatment. My lovely group of 16 campers, four volunteers and I had the most amazing week ever! Started out with arrival day where I saw so many old buddies from last year and met some of the most amazing people in the entire world. We switched cabins for the week and I found myself in Bitterwhat? Bitterroot! (used to call it bitter-stupid but now its bitter-awesome). Got everyone settled in and got started with memories that will last me a lifetime. ha one thing I did forget was just how dramatic teenagers are, this week tested my patience and my ability to lead a group of girls that are stronger and braver and more emotional than I could have imagined. These girls had some unreal stories to tell and just when I though cancer was more than enough for one person to handle, I found that these girls have more issues in a day than I have had in my entire life. Three things: 1. I am so grateful that they trusted me enough to confide in me. 2. I am grateful that my mom always taught me to keep secrets with the saying "not mine to share" and 3. seriously... what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. my campers are a living testimony of that phrase. This week was a chance for all of my girlies to get out of their comfort zones, I had girls terrified of heights conquering the high ropes course, I had a girl that had just had a major surgery on her hip ride a horse... over and over and over again she loved the horses and wanted to take one home in her suitcase, needless to say it didn't fit but she made a pretty good effort anyways. I had campers hike to the top of the butte even though they never imagined in 100 years their bodies would have the strength to climb a mountain, I had a camper that had very little use of one side of her body that made it up the climbing wall and did high ropes... she was awesome and kept saying "I got this, I can do this", not sure if she was talking to me or herself but I hope to take that message with me whenever I face a challenge. I had girls that realized their full potential and to watch that transformation was an experience that I will keep to myself. But it was awesome. We had more than just serious times though, we had some pretty crazy dance parties (I can now sort of dougie and apparently the weird dance move I like to pretend is the jerk-actually pretty close, awwwhhhh yeahh), had some breakfast skits and lunch times games where I ended up getting drenched with water. Bed time stories were also a highlight of mine where campers names got changed to Queen Flava-Flave and Kierstanky-leg on adventures in the land of Oz. Got some of the best soccer games ever going on! Sometimes I forget who I am playing with and get pretty competitive but soccer is my game and it is one of the few things I really miss when I'm up here. Overall, teens will be teens... and I LOVE THEM.

After teen camp, we spent the fourth of july weekend in a cabin on the beach of Flathead Lake, an amazing staff member named Blake hooked us up with two night literally in heaven. We had a boat, a jet ski, paddle boards and lots and lots of BIG fireworks that are not legal in Utah but hooray for Montana, they are legal here!!! whoooo! Love Fireworks! I spent my fourth of july with my second family tubing, wakeboarding, blowing off gigantic fireworks, going full speed on a jet ski over too big of waves and watching fireworks from the middle of the lake on our boat blasting country music and taking shots of chocolate milk. and... I may have pulled a prank or two that I am pretty proud of including a book and a freaky owl. Hands down, the best fourth of july in the history of fourth of julys. One for the books.