Thursday marked the start of the Spring 2013 Quilting Retreats (which is mostly scrapbooking for part A with some scrapbooking for part D). These will last the next four weeks. I think they originated some odd years ago as a weekend...now most of them stretch to nearly a week.
Spring Quilt is small.Well, at least that is what I've heard. And that's in comparison to Fall Quilt (which is five weeks long, starts in October and doesn't end until December because of Thanksgiving). And Scrapbook A is the smallest of the small. At least, that's the case when there is just over 90 women in comparison to nearly 200. Personally, I am quite thankful to start small. For I have found the 90 some-odd women a little overwhelming...okay, a lot overwhelming.
For me, personally, it hasn't been the smoothest of starts to my camp career. For one, I've never given a whole lot of thought to women's ministries. The few times I've gone to an event of some sort, I feel out of place. Lisa, the women's ministry leader here, is very tuned to all that (as I guess anyone would be after nearly 27 years). And Quilt is her baby. And while I love to hold the babies of other people, I don't love to coddle them. So, I think I've been a slight rut in Lisa's hopefulness that the new girl on staff would jump into her treasured retreat with both feet. For one, I had no clue half the time what she was even talking about. I certainly learned...and will have to cover all the bases by myself (for today was Carmen's last day) this week. And two, there has got to be a simpler way to coddling these women and their dietary needs. I was taught to be easy to please, even if it meant eating lima beans if we were the guests. Apparently, most women are not taught that. I am hoping and praying, after several mini-battles, that the process of doing this has been resolved. Well, at least until the fall.
Thankfully, I get to start out small. I had to help with signing people in yesterday and today, but I have this weekend off. Quilt B next weekend I actually have to host on Saturday. (I get to more-or-less miss out on C and D, minus a bit of welcoming at the sign-in desk.) It was a little overwhelming. I have trouble meeting people in a new situation. I have even more trouble, it seems, when the people are three or four gabbing women. I would have been happiest back in the office, sitting at my desk inputting the piles of summer camp, family camp and Arctic Blast registrations (a youth camp). And I would have been happier if Carmen or Andrea welcomed while I just sat back and observed. Because observing was fascinating!
I have never seen so many boxes, suitcases, storage thingies, laptops, Cricuts and who knows what else come through one door. I watched dozens of women bring in more paper, stamps, tape, rulers, punches, cards, envelopes, pictures, ribbons, stickers, albums and everything you could possibly find in the scrapbook section of Hobby Lobby than personal belongings I moved from Texas. I honestly don't know how they fit all that in their cars. Some bring cushions for their chairs. Others, who are quilting, bring sewing machines. (And we have rooms of tables with more wattage of electricity running to them then I care to mention.) I even saw one woman bring in her own chair.
I feel like I entered a new world this week. One full of laughing, chattering women armed with cutting boards and stamps. And it's more than a little strange. But, it's good. It's new. It's different. It's stretching. And it's good. In four weeks, I'll let you know how it all turned out.
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