Tag Archives: Camp Kesem

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My Major Award

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A little over two weeks ago I received a daisy nomination from my co-worker Ally for being a resource in endo and the care I have given to patients in the past by following up with them on the floor after procedures. That same day Kelly (she volunteers at Kesem Wash U with me as Nurse Needles) says to me, well I guess you didn’t get the Mission in Motion award. I looked at her very confused and she said I nominated you months ago for your involvement with Camp Kesem and I guess it’s all over with. Three days later Ally texted me to tell me I had won the award. I said oh please go to tell Kelly as I was off and I knew Kelly was working. Later on that afternoon Ally texted me to say Jodi wanted to know if I was working Monday so I said I better make sure my hair is in place for photos.

Monday came and nothing happened so I thought well I will make sure my hair looks good for Tuesday. On Tuesday the Chief Nursing Officer and two others showed up with a gorgeous Poinsettia and read to me what Kelly had said and that I had won this award. This is one of the highest honors a nurse can receive which honors employees who exemplify these values through their exceptional service and dedication to patients and their families both at work and in the community. Sadly, I do not have a copy of what she had written and of course it was months ago so she doesn’t exactly remember. However, it had to do with all the camps that I volunteer at and how much the kids love me. So the CNO then says to me, “you have your award right.” I was like no, so the charge nurse runs over to the managers office who it out sick and it is not there. I crack up laughing and say of course this always happens to me. I shared with them the story of it raining two inches the night before I was to visit Death Valley and the flood washed out roads and I didn’t get to see everything I had planned on seeing. So they assured me they would find it and give it to me.

At the end of the shift Sarah was checking her email and received a weird email so I said let me see if I received one too. Imagine my horror when I discovered the previous Friday was the brick ceremony and I received a brick with my name on it and was not there for it. I walked downstairs and found the brick and took photos. I then came back upstairs and was an emotional wreck. I also learned there was a luncheon that I also missed out on. The next day at work I emailed the CNO and the president of the hospital to let them know how upset I was that I missed that and that no one had told me about this. I heard back from the CNO a couple days later and then the president of the hospital called me personally a week later. When I looked at my caller ID and it said his name, my first thought OMG I’m in trouble. Then I said calm down and answered the phone. He was extremely apologetic and told me my award was sitting on the CNO’s desk. He offered to mail it to me but I said I am working tomorrow I can stop by and pick it up. He said that was fine and I said I would have to work up the nerve because administration is scary.

I told my co-workers all I wanted was a picture of me holding the brick. Clare and I had went down the next morning and discovered the bricks are not cemented in so taking it out would be very easy. I decided we should do this on a Monday when everyone is working including Kelly as I wanted her to share this joy with me.

Ally made a poster on Friday and on Monday she said she was hanging it up in the break room so it wouldn’t get messed up. I was like no one knows who Nurse Red is and she said “that’s ok, we will tell them.” I woke up at 4am as I was very excited and around 11:30 Kelly who was working in the room with me asked if it was ok for if she stepped out for five minutes to take care of something. I said sure but asked her what she was up to. She replied nothing and I said you are acting suspicious. As I was walking past the break room I noticed it smelled wonderful and thought anesthesia must have bought us food. Both rooms finished with morning cases at the same time so I said great let’s go do the brick. When they told me no let’s go to the break room first I became very suspicious. The food was for me and I had a cake and everything. The sneaky snakes I work with got together with the girls that get our patients ready and send home and planned a pot luck. Kelly had ordered pretzels which is why she needed to step out.

Dr. Cockerell joined us for lunch and went down to the bricks. The garden area where the bricks are located is just outside the cafeteria. So Ally is holding the sign she made and as we walked through the cafeteria and is yelling congratulations to our Mission in Motion winner. I like a little attention but this was over the top. I turned bright red but did indeed survive. We went outside and Dr. Cockerell took the brick out and handed it to me. It was so much fun.

No fear of destruction of property. And my favorite CRNA Matt is photo bombing us!
An awesome moment
Matt took the photo for us. I was so excited he could join us!
Ally who made the poster!
Matt, Clare and I
Me returning the brick as if nothing ever happened.

Somehow Nurse Needles did not see us leave so I demanded a photo with her because without her this would have never happened. As we walked back through the cafeteria rest assured Ally was still yelling congratulations to our award winner. I ignored the impulse to hide in the corner.

Nurse Needles and Nurse Red

I have the most amazing co-workers! They knew how devastated that I was for missing the actual award ceremony and created something one thousand times better! I actually love Camp Kesem and all of the kids. I do not do what I do for awards or recognition. I actually do this for the kids. If they do not have a nurse, camp cannot happen. It is also a great excuse to act as a kid as I participate in song circles, scream sing and do the hand motions. It is a nice throw back to when my kids were young and my church put on Kid Stuf. Yes, I would go without them because I enjoyed it so much. I had a really rough time after camp was over this year because someone I thought was a friend had lied to me about everything. I fully believe God inspired Nurse Needles to nominate me to remind me of why I do these camps in the first place.

Mole Moral ~ Good things come to those who wait.

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Do you wanna buy a duck?

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Summer camps are finally over and I’m exhausted and need to consider my age before I attempt to do this much next year. It ended with my favorite in Maine. Every year when my plane lands in Bangor I feel like I’m back home. I just love it up there.

I brought about one hundred ducks with me to camp. I asked Melody to loan me a pillow so I would have room in my suitcase for all of them. This year we gave medicine to campers in the cafeteria. Normally they come to the nurses cabin but due to circumstances beyond our control I did not feel this was a safe option. Anyway at breakfast the first day I brought them with me. Icy and Swiftie asked for one. I said not yet but if you two want to set them on up on the table for me that would be great. That had a lot of fun arranging them for me.

All the kids picked one out and eventually Bambi asked if he could have one. He’s one of the guy counselors who has been there for three years. He’s the one whom all the kids love and pick on non stop. So needless to say most of the counselors have one too. This idea came from Dr. Pickles who brought them to JMU camp and they were a huge hit.

Bambi

At some point during the week Bambi realized how easy it is to pick on me and get me all worked up. I’m pretty sure I told him he was exactly like my husband. He came over when kids were not around and told me that I called him the hard R word. I said absolutely not, my girls banned me from using that word a long time ago. Nurse Pooh (from Texas camp this summer who I recruited to do this one with me) joins in and they attempt to punk me. I said wrong answer I called you gay. That shut him up because he has been dating Moose (the awesome girl who has ran camp the past three years) for probably that long. I said and by the way in my generation gay means stupid. For crying out loud don’t mess with Nurse Red. He teased and tormented me until I threatened to take his duck back.

The night before the talent show Swiftie asked if she could use the rest of the ducks for the talent show. I said yes of course. She is the sweetest and most kind hearted kid I have ever met. She even wrote me a warm and fuzzy and said she enjoyed watching me make friendship bracelets. So the talent show comes and she brings Bambi, Yoshi and Icy up on stage with her. I can’t really hear what they are saying but the next thing I know Swiftie and Icy are throwing ducks at Bambi and Yoshi. Yoshi is another incredible male counselor. He is currently working on his masters in something that is so foreign to me (obviously not medical) that I couldn’t even say what it was. He is planning to get his PhD. He is actually part of a different Kesem but has come to Maine for three years to help fill guy counselor spots. He is wearing his Yoshi costume which is so cute. Anyway the next thing I know everyone is throwing ducks around. The audience is throwing them at the four of them and they are throwing them back. It was controlled chaos and since no one was hurt and nothing was broken it didn’t happen.

Yoshi in his Yoshi costume which the kids love!!

Paper plate awards are one of my favorite part of camp. Everyone gets one and the ones for the kids are usually spot on. As usual so was mine.

I cracked up laughing and will remember it forever.

Some of the camps do this thing that goes

Do you want to buy a duck?

A what?

A duck.

Does it quack?

Yes.

This gets repeated down the line like telephone. I can’t remember exactly how it ends but the kids love it. I find it to be totally obnoxious but if they enjoy it, then I willingly participate.

I’m glad the summer is over. It was a hard one for me but out of difficulty growth occurs. I’m not sure I needed this but maybe in the future it will become clear.

Mole Moral ~ When kindness shows up, great things happen.

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Camp Kesem at JMU

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After what it took to get to camp, I had a feeling it was going to be special and boy it didn’t disappoint!

James Madison University campus was really cool.

I instantly liked all the college kids on admin team and all of the counselors. Reflecting a week later it was just like my very first camp with Washington University.

One of the counselors, Joker was a nurse. He had just taken the MCAT to go to medical school. He shared a lot with me. He didn’t do well in high school but pulled it together in college. He did extremely well and decided he could indeed be a doctor. He then shared he wanted to be a surgeon. I said the exact same thing to him I said to Beaker at that first camp. Nope you are way too nice to be a surgeon. All surgeons are assholes. He smiled and then I told him the story of Beaker. One of the little girls flushed a small bottle of body wash down the toilet. Beaker ran in stuck his hand down into the hole and pulled it out. I told Beaker he’d be a great OB/GYN. I made Joker a friendship bracelet with a note that said put this somewhere that when med school is hard and you want to quit to remember Nurse Red believes in you and you got this. Whether he listened to me or not, I know he will succeed.

I have never sat in on cabin chat. It happens at end of every night and the kids talk about highlights of the day and answer questions. I could attend if I wanted but I felt the kids wouldn’t want some old grandma there. The way this camp did meds, I and Dr. pickles delivered night meds. So I heard some answers to questions. The kids were asked to describe Kesem in one word. Here are some of the answers

Amazing

Powerful

Safe

Magic

Love

Inspiring

Home

Magical

The last evening we delivered meds to the fifteen and up during their cabin chat. I was listening to all they had to say and then I asked if I could say something. They were all like yes. So I said I have multiple people ask me why I volunteer for camp and why I don’t get paid. And because of all that they shared, I finally know the answer. Without nurses, camp cannot happen. These camps need to happen I see how much they mean to all of you. It’s an honor and a privilege to be able to be a nurse for these kids. So it was time for group hug. One of the counselors said Nurse Red get over here and then they all started chanting Nurse Red just like my very first year.

The parallel between my first camp and this one renewed and strengthened my love of Camp Kesem. I think this may be why everything that went wrong to get there was an attempt to get me to say nope and go home. My first two camps this summer were hard. Actually to the point I considered next summer only doing Wash U and Maine. However I have added James Madison to my must do camp list and if I have to bribe one of the docs to take vacation the week of this camp, I will.

Mole Moral ~ Great things happen when one shoves their fear of not knowing where they are going, what exactly is going to happen and not having every detailed planned.

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Nurse Red meets Schleprock

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Ten years ago Brian and I were celebrating our twenty-fifth anniversary and every crazy thing that could happen did. I’ll put the link to that blog at the end if anyone is interested in reading it. He gave me the nickname Schleprock which is a character on the Pebbles and BamBam show which was a spin off of the Flintstones. Schleprock always had a black cloud over his head and things always went wrong for him.

So today I left for Camp Kesem James Madison University in Virginia. I am pretty excited for this camp as it is smaller with almost fifty kids and I’ve never been to Virginia. The college is about a three hour drive from DC. I scheduled myself to fly into Reagan airport, take their metro link to the Mega Bus station and take the bus to campus and walk a half a mile to the hotel that is located on the edge of campus. I had a three hour lay over between the flight and the bus just in case I got on the metro going the wrong direction.

So I left the house at 3:30 this morning as my flight was scheduled to leave at 5:40. Just as I sat down on the bus to take me from the parking lot to the airport I received a text from Southwest saying my flight had been cancelled and they were working on rebooking. If I didn’t absolutely love Kesem and every single person I had ever met to date I would have said cancel and refund my money. However about thirty minutes later I was put on a direct flight with an hour to get to bus station that was ten minute by train. Oh and the flight didn’t leave until 8:40. So at 6:30 I decided I don’t care if I get sick and die, I’m laying on the floor and sleeping. I slept for about an hour.

No sooner than everyone boarded when the captain came on saying there was something wrong with the electrical system for the fueling cars and we needed fuel so we would be delayed. My first thought, “ what is it with me and fuel.” It took an hour to finally get fuel and take off so I knew there would be no way I would make it to the bus. I decided I would rent a car and drive the three hours to the hotel.

I land and there are no cars available at the airport. So I get on Apple Maps to see if I can take the metro over to Dulles airport to rent a car there. I go through Priceline and no cars are available. I’m now on the verge of tears but decide to change pick up time to 3pm. Yes Avis has cars available. I don’t even really pay attention to the price. I book the thing and then attempt public transportation. I do not see the metro stop anywhere on the outside of baggage claim. I realize I’m in terminal 2 so when I look to see how to get to terminal 1 the metro connection is over there. I walk forever but finally reach it. I know I look as confused as all get out because a nice worker asked me where I was going. Then told me I don’t even need a ticket I can use a tap to pay credit card. I finally get up to the train deck. The train comes and I get on it and think I really hope this is going in the right direction. Yes it was, finally a win.

It is now time to change from the blue line to silver. Just as I get on the escalator it stops moving. Half way down over the loud speaker I hear “There is an emergency in the train station. Please evacuate the station immediately.” I say out loud is this for real? Is this really happening? I look around and no one seems to care so I think F it and hop on the silver line. I made it to Dulles no problem and head to the rental car place via the shuttle.

As I am standing in line I look at my email and find this.

When my flight got cancelled I figured it was because the orginal plane was going to crash or something. I see this and I’m like it all makes sense now and the rest of the day will be uneventful. Little did I know what was heading my way.

After I checked into the hotel I walked around campus until Goose called and asked if I would mind dropping rental car off tonight and not deal with it in the morning. When she told me I didn’t need to be picked up until nine tomorrow morning I said “I love you people!” I was fine with dropping it off now. I told them I would have to stop and fill the car up. I just so happened to see a Buc-ee’s on the way and stopped there to also get dill pickle potato sticks. I’m not sure what happened but somehow I had to drive six miles to turn around on the highway. This would make me twenty minutes late which really upset me. Goose and Waves didn’t seem to mind but once again I found myself on the verge of tears. I see a rainbow to my left and I think this is all over.

The airport is tiny and closed but luckily they had a key return box and I dropped the key in it. I chat with the two of them back to my hotel. I instantly like them and know it’s going to be a great week. As I get on the elevator I realize I don’t have my phone. I go to my room and dump all my stuff out and no phone. I don’t know if I left it in the rental or Goose’s car. I am in full panic mode as I don’t know anyone’s number. I go to the front desk crying and the girl dials Emily’s number for me. I have her look to see if she can find Kesem’s hotline number and I know they could locate Goose for me. Emily finds the number and gives it to me. I ask the girl if there is a phone in my room. I go back upstairs to use it but do not have my room key. I go back downstairs she gives me a new key. I come back up and the phone won’t dial out. So I go back downstairs and she calls the Kesem number. No option for hotline so I remember I still have the emails from the girls so I call Emily back to hack into my email. Because we share locations she tells me the phone is in the girls car and they are running errands. I’m just glad it’s not in the rental.

So she goes to sign into my email which has two factor authentication. Luckily her phone number is a choice so she gets in and finds Waves number. I call and tell what happened. They are so sweet they swing back by hotel and give me my phone. So I tell Goose I am convinced Satan has been blocking me all day because something magical is going to happen. Will I see the hand of God? Maybe or maybe not. But if you have read The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom you will know what I mean when I say I could meet one of my five or even better be one of theirs.

I know in my heart this will be an amazing week. I’ve said it a million times there is just something about these college kids that give so much of their time to Kesem and the kids. It’s such an honor to be a part of it.

Mole Moral ~ The best way to survive being a Schleprock is knowing how to navigate crazy situations.

https://lifewithmoles.net/2015/10/24/my-new-nickname/

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Nurse Pooh’s Warm and Fuzzy

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Most of the camp Kesem’s I have attended have done warm and fuzzies for the entire camp. So instead of writing Nurse Pooh a small snippet on a piece of colored paper, I’m dedicating this blog to her.

Last winter Dr. Heavey gave his vacation dates and so I went on Kesem’s website to see what camps were available for the week. I stumbled across UT Austin so I applied thinking I was going to Utah. I then conned Ricochet into doing this camp with me. So he informs me we are going to Texas. I’m like it will be 120 in July but I will prepare for excessive heat.

Right before the start of camp they told us there would be a third nurse. Anyone who knows me, knows I don’t do well with last minute change. Her name was Nurse Pooh. Now as an endo nurse I could hardly keep a straight face even though I was positive it was in reference to Winnie the Pooh. Even my husband got a kick out of it and said she was number two. Everyone knows the Moles are real mature.

So Pooh is the same age as everyone else, mid twenties. Within thirty minutes I knew she was one of my peeps. She reminds me of the endo girls whom I love. She attended week one and it wasn’t long before she told us about that experience. I had total anxiety while she told Ricochet and I about it, and will probably have anxiety writing about it.

She was asked to do camp two days prior to the start of camp. There is pre camp training computer modules that are to be completed before camp starts. I did mine back in April and have done them for five years. She didn’t see any of this. She did not receive the packing list and basically went into a camp with 100+ campers blind. I have only done three camps with 75 or more kids and they are rough in that check in and check out is mass chaos. The other nurse she was working with was also in the same boat, had never done camp and received no training. Neither could get out of the nurses station all week because it was non stop campers needing to be seen. This is why week two had three nurses.

After Ricochet and I listened to this we both said you are going to every activity and do not need to be in this nurses station. The best part about camp is being out and about with the kids. She did state she has an anaphylactic allergy to ants so we then said stay out of the grass. The camp had a golf cart for her to ride in to avoid the ants.

I’m so glad she agreed to come back for the second week so that I could meet her. I would be thrilled to be co workers with her. She just moved and will be starting her next job soon. She will be a huge blessing to all of her patients. I had an absolutely amazing week and may just tell the endo doctors one of them will need to take vacation for UT Austin camp next year

Mole Moral ~ Last minute changes to the schedule can bring about huge blessings.

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What’s in a name?

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As I finish up the week with Camp Kesem at Notre Dame, I feel compelled to share Peter Pants story. Peter Pants is on the admin team. The admin team consists of anywhere from 5-10 college students who are in charge of running camp. They do things like set up for activities, actually make the camp schedule, round everyone up when it’s time to change activities and so on.

The first day someone asked Peter Pants what her name meant. Apparently when she was in grade school she had an accident and was called this. I didn’t ask how long because it broke my heart. Why are human beings so mean to each other?

I’ve thought about this a lot this summer. If everyone would treat each other the way they do at camp, the world would be a much better place. No one here cares what your sexual orientation is, what gender you identify as, if you are a male and let the girls French braid your hair, if you let the little kids put make up on and paint your nails. The outside world is so judgmental and ridiculous.

I’ve written about empowerment in the past. One of my favorite activities is the step in, step out. Step in if you have ever been bullied was so powerful. Every single person including yours truly stepped in. When they said step in if you ever lost a parent, it hit me really hard. I had fifty-four years with my dad, some of the kids that stepped in were under ten. It was even mentioned how hard it is to go to school activities where everyone’s dad is there except for yours because he’s dead. Empowerment is hard when you realize how much these kids are dealing with. Kudos to Camp Kesem for giving kids a week with each other!

Mole Moral ~ One should think long and hard before they say mean things. Words do indeed hurt people and can last a lifetime.

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A week in Wisconsin with Camp Kesem

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Nurse Red finished yet another amazing week with incredible college kids. I guess I’m going to write about this every camp because it is truly mind blowing.

So I had no idea when I signed up that Wisconsin has the biggest chapter in the country. They have three weeks of camp with about 80 campers each week. They also have at least forty counselors. The college has around thirty four thousand undergrads. So a good size pool to pull from as the camp needs that many to run smoothly.

Camp Kesem has strict ratios as well. I think it’s 2 counselors to every seven kids. They also strictly enforce the rule of three. This means no camper is alone with a counselor or no camper is alone with another camper. There must be at least one counselor per group of three. This is strictly enforced at all the camps I have been a nurse for. One camp that I have observed and would never volunteer for is terrible about keeping an eye on the kids and following the rule of three.

Urba and Brick were the camp coordinators. Both did an excellent job. I must say the organization at this camp was top notch. From pre made name tags to pre selected teams for color wars, to all the tie dye t-shirts being in bags and labeled with camper names before we even started the project. And if that wasn’t mind blowing, the shirts that we wore for check in needed to be washed to wear for check out. I went to put my name on the tag and it was already there. I told Urba today with her leadership skills, organization and personality she should be president. She informed me she’s too young and has no interest in politics. I forgot to mention she’s extremely smart as well.

I loved Minnow as she was the other nurse. She did adults for less than a year and then switched to pediatrics. I say bless her as dealing with parents of sick kids is extremely challenging. It just so happened her floor gets all the GI patients. So the kids that couldn’t poop this week were in great hands.

Because this chapter does three weeks many of the kids do all three weeks. This says so much about their hearts as it is an exhausting but rewarding week. They give up doing their paid job. I just can’t put this into words.

The camp advisors can make or break a camp. They are usually graduated but not always. Our advisors this camp were Sprout and Stiles. Ok Sprout still in college but I really thought he was 28 with the way he carried himself. Stiles is 28 and a high school math teacher. I would have loved to have him as a teacher even if his goal is to teach calculus. They were calm and very professional. If they were stressed over anything that happened they hid it well. If I’m lucky, I’ll work with them again in a Kesem of the future.

Mole Moral ~ If we treated each other every day the way we treat each other at camp the world would be a wonderful place. The socially awkward were just as included as the popular kids.

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Empowerment

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I’m not sure if I have ever written about this part of camp Kesem but it’s the most important and emotional part of camp. It usually occurs on the second to last day of camp.

It starts with all of camp designing a paper bag with why they Kesem. Kesem is for kids whose parents have or have had cancer or are no longer on earth. This year Wildflower (who is the camp director, I worked with two years ago when I did a different Arizona camp and then ran into last year at Arkansas camp) handed me one so here is what I came up with.

Yes I still draw like I’m five years old!

After this activity everyone gets in a circle and we do step in and step out. The leader reads a statement such as step in if you’ve ever worried about your parent. Step out. After just a few of these it’s obvious that everyone has felt every one of these things and it screams you are not alone and you are not weird.

Then two circles are formed and inner circle closes their eyes. The narrator then reads statements tap someone who made you laugh, tap someone you made as a new friend etc. The circle reverse so everyone gets tapped many times. After this the sharing circle begins. The kids have a choice if they want to share their story. I would guess it’s usually about fifty percent that will talk.

After sharing is finished a skein of yarn is passed around and each person wraps it around their wrist and passes to the next thereby connecting everyone. Then the string is cut and you are left with a bracelet to remind you that you are not alone.

This is the magic of Kesem. The college kids pour so much time and energy into this camp that it is mind blowing. They are all trained to assist with the big feelings this brings up and do a really good job.

After this hard emotional feelings a fun activity is planned for the evening. Every camp has done a dance party except WI is planning a happy hour. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t excited and can’t wait to see what it’s all about.

Mole Moral~ If you know any parents with cancer or who have passed and they have children 5-18 set them up with this camp. It’s amazing and the kids love it.

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Camp Kesem through Nurse Red’s eyes

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It was the summer of 2019 and I had left Mercy and took the summer off to figure out what I would do next with my career. I was looking on Indeed for jobs when I came across a posting that Washington University was looking for a volunteer camp nurse for Camp Kesem. The only thing I really knew was that it was for kids whose parents have or had or have passed away from cancer. So I applied was interviewed by two college kids (thought they were grown adults over the phone) and offered the position.

I had an amazing week and two weeks later I jumped on a plane and flew to Maine to help University of Maine out. I was blown away by the college kids who put on these camps. They fundraiser all year long, have meetings they attend and then give a week out of their summer to go to camp. As I left Maine I made up my mind if my next job wouldn’t give me off, I would quit and find a new one. This problem was avoided as covid hit and camp was virtual for two years which meant no nurse needed.

Camp Kesem was started in 2000 at Stanford University by college student Iris “Abra Cadabra” Rave Wedeking and a group of student leaders. They wanted to create a camp at little to no cost to families. After assessing the needs of the community they found that kids whose parents have or had cancer had a unique set of needs and were underserved. The first camp was held in 2001, free of charge to 37 campers. Camp Kesem national was founded in 2002. It has a grown to more than 130 college and university chapters in 44 states and the District of Columbia.

Kesem in Hebrew is magic. Camp Kesem is magic. For one week the kids can be kids and not focused on their parents cancer. Everyone chooses a camp name (hence Nurse Red because Big Red might be awkward) and no one uses their real name. As a nurse who has spent the greater part of her career purposely not remembering patients name to avoid HIPAA violations, I can barely remember camp names much less real names. So giving out medicine can be tricky and the only time real names are used. These kids look forward to this camp every year. Cancer is not spoken about (if brought up in causal conversation that is ok) except for at empowerment. It is a special two hour time period that I will not share. It’s a big part of the magic and words cannot describe it.

Karl the caterpillar became the mascot. A caterpillar was chosen because the kids often arrive very closed off, shy, timid. By the end of the week a complete transformation has occurred. They have come out of their shell, are engaged in activities and just kids. I witnessed this first hand in Maine. It was my only camper on medicine and she was mad she couldn’t keep her medicine with her. She was even madder she couldn’t bring her phone to camp. She sat like a bump on a log that evening. As the week went on she was laughing, smiling, participating in activities and was so excited to tell her mom all about camp. This was one of many reasons I said I would quit my job if I couldn’t be off for camp.

So the Karl I’m holding belong to Oklahoma University but I was at University of Arkansas camp. In true college movie life it seems Oklahoma broke something of Arkansas so they stole Karl. However at the end of camp Karl headed back to Oklahoma. I’m so glad he’s back where he belongs. The camp advisor for Arkansas came from Arizona State University so I knew him from last years camp. He is ASU director next year and informed me I’m doing his camp. The director for Oklahoma University next year was also at this camp and informed me I’m doing her camp as well. This means I’m up to six camps next year. I either need to win the lottery or convince the butt hut they can survive half of the summer without me.

Mole Moral ~ Jesus came to serve others, not be served. I am most happy when I serve others and Camp Kesem is the perfect place to accomplish this for me!!

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Camp Kesem Wash U

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Its hard to believe it had been three years since I attended my first camp Kesem with Washington University. I had taken the summer off between jobs to spend with my three girls, Emily had a travel assignment in Missouri, Kayla was close in Springfield and Allyson would be leaving in the fall for college. I had started looking for jobs to try and figure out what I wanted to do next with my career when I came across a listing on indeed for a volunteer camp nurse to spend one week with kids whose parents who had/have cancer. I thought wow that might be fun and with my school nurse experience and Big Stuf camp experience I might just get the position. So I applied and it wasn’t too long before I was called for an interview. At the time I had no idea I was speaking to two college kids with the camp names of Beaker and Pele, I really thought I was talking to some office people on an official interview. Anyway they told me I had the position on the spot pending background check so I was pretty excited. I had a blast that year! We had around thirty-five campers if I remember correctly. The other nurse could only attend the first half and she was Chaco. She showed me the ropes and I really liked her. I think she was from Alabama. The second half of the week Seven showed up. He picked his name because he fell like seven times while hiking a trail. I knew we were meant to be friends. I had an amazing week and could not wait until next year. I even got asked to do a second camp in Maine two weeks later. It was also amazing and you can read about it here.

I knew three years ago that if my new job wouldn’t let me off to attend Wash U then I would quit and find a new one. Well I didn’t have to be quite so drastic since covid hit and shut down the entire world. Camp Kesem would be virtual in both 2020 and 2021 and obviously there wasn’t a need for a nurse. Last week I was stalking their instagram site and I discovered the Gibby and Fin were the directors last year. This just made me hate covid even more than I already did. In person camp would have totally rocked with those two in charge. All the girls had crushes on Fin and everyone loved to say Gib by Gib by over and over. So this year was all new college kids because all the old counselors have graduated. Beaker is in med school and Pele had a full time job after camp in 2019. I text these kids from time to time to check in on them and see what they are up to. Back to the present, all the counselors this session were just as wonderful. It just blows me away that they become involved in this organization while in college. They raise money all year long to pay for camp as it is free for the kids. Then they give a week of their summer up to spend non stop time with the kids. I do know that usually when you give of your time and talents you tend to get just as much if not more than what you give.

This year the directors were Eggo and Brother and both did an amazing job of keeping everything running smoothly. This year they didn’t have an admin cabin but rather the admin was mixed in with the campers. This prevented me from getting to know the admin team as well because there was no hanging out with them after the late night meetings.

The nurse this year was Birdie. I liked her the minute i met her on zoom a few days before. For starters she was currently doing Mizzou’s camp Kesem which meant Wash U would have the camp site to ourselves. Birdie just finished nursing school and passed boards. She went through an accelerated one year program which means she’s super smart and can handle stress like a champ. Of course she kept denying being smart but this old nurse knows better. She lives in Florida and after Wash U she left for Maine to do the camp I did three years ago. I was unable to attend due to scheduling conflicts at my job but I am thrilled she is there this week. Anyway we had a great week together. We both agreed messy games were the best as you can see by our before and after pictures.

It is now July of 2023 and I just realized I never finished or posted this blog. I will do it now because I am again doing Wash U and Maine. I was just asked to do a three day camp in Arkansas and it actually worked out with my work schedule. I cannot wait for three amazing Camp Kesem’s this summer.

Mole Moral~ I get more out of these camps than I give because that’s how serving others works.