4th day :o)
so i chaperoned on the retreat this past weekend. brandt did too, along with scotty p., rin, sara, & elizabeth (kind of). it was a really really good experience. i chaperoned last year and that was ok, but this one was in the same place as all ours were, and it was just a fantastic group of kids. danny is the youth minister now of course, and he did an awesome job. kelly was a facilitator and of course she did great too. brendan attended & my parents helped with a couple meals. so every OB but shan was there. :o) oh my crazy fam.
anyways, the team did such a great job, i was really really proud of them. it was also the best group of participants i think ive ever seen. they were a great group and they had a lot of fun. i had fun with the "adults" too, it was so fun to see sara especially! its been forever, but shes still hilarious.
honestly, during the weekend i was just so sleep-deprived that i didnt really recognize what a great time i was having. well i did a little, but not to the full extent. the thing i feel really good about is that normally i would have been going "man, i wish i was still on team too, im so jealous!" in the back of my mind, and im sure i thought it once or twice, but mostly i was just really happy with my role as an adult volunteer. i dont know...its a little hard to explain, but you guys know how crazy i am about those weekends. it just felt very right to be doing what i was doing, and i would have thought it wouldnt have been that easy. i would expect more inner-conflict, haha. anyways, im really glad that i loved it and i plan to keep doing it for a long time if i can.
so, as a result of the weekend, i unintentionally have myself a little "retreat high," as we used to say. :o) i didnt think i would come away with that, but i did and its been a great week for me because of it. granted, there have been some not-so-great situations since ive been back, but they didnt carry as much weight to me as they would have 2 weeks ago. im just feeling really blessed right now. it was great to be at st leonards and just remember. there were just so many amazing experiences for me in there, and i thought they were over, but they arent! :o) its a great feeling! and i dont know, just being there with my fam...were so cool haha...well not really, but man im so lucky! ive just felt very blessed in the last few days and its a great feeling to know that im gonna be able to volunteer more and be around those people that shared the experience i had last weekend. with most of the people i was on team with, its just a thing of the past, and everyones so different now that it would almost be sad to try and have that connection again anyway. and im getting to the un-awkward age where i can be friends with these kids but im like 5 yrs older than them, so theres no weird age-closeness or whatever, like with sara, jim & francine.
mmmkay i know i have more to say about that, but i guess it all kind of sounds the same doesnt it :o)