On the Loose

     Two weeks of staff training came and went so quickly. We have a staff of around 20 people and everyone has varying amounts of camp experience. My camp experience multiplied tenfold in staff training alone. I started a fire and cooked over it, climbed to the top of a rock wall, hiked to a mountain summit and then back down, have seen scorpions, spiders, snakes and deer. We canoed and tipped on purpose to learn how to get back in, shot arrows at the archery range, worked on friendship bracelets, slept in cabins with only a canvas flaps as doors and sang lots of songs and learned loads of games.

     Looking back on training I should have slept more because this is the first week of camp with the girls and I am exhausted!!!! I have the group of Cadettes, 12 of them, and we are doing all of the fun camp activities (archery, canoeing, rock wall, arts and crafts, and swimming) as well as things like learning about knife safety, building fires, natural spa treatments, and sleeping in the meadow!!! The temperature is in the upper 90s with no rain in the forecast which means the stars and moon shine brightly in the clear night sky.

     One of the most beloved camp songs is called "On the Loose" and I happen to feel very connected to the lyrics because they exemplify the wonders and excitement that life unplanned has to offer.

"Have you ever watched the sunrise turn the sky completely red?
Have you slept beneath the moon and stars, a pine bough for your head?
Do you sit and talk with friends though a word is never said?
Then you're just like me and you've been on the loose.

(Refrain)
On the loose to climb a mountain
On the loose where I am free
On the loose to live my life
The way I think my life should be
For I've only got a moment
And the whole world yet to see
I'll be looking for tomorrow
On the loose

There's a trail that I'll be hiking
Just to see where it might go
Many places yet to visit
Many people yet to know
For in following my dreams
I will live and I will grow
In a world that's waiting
Out there on the loose

(Refrain)

So in search of love and laughter
I am traveling through this land
Never sure of where I'm going
For I haven't any plans
Do in time when you are ready
Come and join me
Take my hand
And together well share life out on the loose

(Refrain)"

Video credit to youtube channel, not from me or my camp.