getting ready for camp....

As I've mentioned before, every year Alec and I work at a music camp. We met at camp. In fact, we are only one of countless couples formed among the staff at camp, and we were the sixth of said couples to go on to get married. I've been working there at least one week (out of four) every summer since I graduated from high school. Obviously, it has become an important part of my life, and it is a completely wonderful and magical place to spend a summer.

My recent incarnation as a singer has made getting to camp much more difficult. Summer programs, language classes, or gigs have increasingly had to take precedence over being at camp, as wonderful as it is. However, this year, my only singing obligations happen later on in the summer, so I am able to be at camp for three out of the four weeks. (I'm taking the final week -- jazz week -- off to come home and attempt to finish packing.) I'm grateful to be going, and for the opportunity to spend so much time with Alec this summer.

Getting ready for camp is quite a job -- in addition to packing clothes, shoes, etc. for three weeks of extremely varied weather, there is music to be picked out and copied; a tent to be aired out and cleaned (couples wishing to sleep in the same room with one another must bring a tent to sleep in, so we really are "camping" while we're there!); cds to organize, copy on to i-pods, etc; other teaching materials to be found and organized; mail to be forwarded... I'm sure you get the idea. Alec is also part of the management team of the camp now, so he has to be moving all kinds of band and orchestra equipment over to the island that the camp is on (which is only accessible by ferry), including a full steel drum band. Plus, I have to get out my poor neglected flute and make sure I still remember how to play it! (Yes, I teach flute at camp -- another remnant of a former life.) Add this to the packing of our entire house that we're currently in the middle of, and the details of closing on our condo, and last minute jobs to finish before we leave, and roles and other pieces that I have to take with me to learn, and the result is total chaos!!! But, I'm sure it will all work out. There may not be another post until I'm safely on the island, though.