I don't think I cried...

...the day I said goodbye.

Part I

Saturday morning, after having only 2.5 hours sleep, I woke up in the 3 o’clock hour to leave Austin by 4 a.m. for a drive to Tyler. I was going to visit my sister, Becca, aka Greece Monkey, at Pine Cove Camp. I drove into the sunrise, stopping only to put my contacts in and ask for directions when I’d obviously missed a key exit. Steven Curtis Chapman was my musical companion, and I danced most of the way to East Texas.

I arrived a little after 8 a.m. and watched the excitement of closing day. I saw the kids and counselors laugh together, greet their parents and go through the festivities of the last day. I proudly listened as my sister hand out Character Quality certificates, and I got to visit with some of my old campers. They loved knowing that “G-Mo” and I were sisters. I sat through staff meeting and enjoyed lunch with Becca, Katherine and some other friends.

We made tentative plans for the afternoon, which included changing cabins and cleaning clothes at The Laundry Room in town. While waiting for the washing machine, Bec and I read magazines at Starbucks. While waiting for the dryer, we hung out with a little boy and his mom and rolled a matchbox-like car (from the movie, Cars) back and forth on the folding tables while Becca Boo and I chatted about life and enjoyed the folks around us.

Leaving town, we went back to camp to finish moving her into her new cabin for the next week. On the way back, we stopped at the grade school camp, Towers, where I had worked for three summers as counselor and lifeguard. It was a quick walk-through. I wanted to see the new cabins they had built and check out other improvements. And then it was back to Ranch, where Becca is counseling junior high students. We cleaned up the cabin, had time for a quick nap, then a shower and a drive back into town to grab dinner. I had intended to spend the night, since driving 8 to 9 hours in one day didn’t quite appeal to me, but I’d had a good time with my sister and wanted to free her up to bond with her staff. I’ve been there before, and I understood the importance of the 24 hours of “free time”.

Dinner at Chili’s was fun. I liked hearing Becca’s funny stories about the goings-on at her activities class and how she’s made some incredible friends. I liked that she said she’s excited about coming down to Austin to visit her new best girl friend, Courtney, while I’m thinking that I’ve been in Austin for over 4 years, without a visit. It’s the naïve comment like that one that tells me that she’s having too much fun to care, and I’m thrilled. We shared stories, laughed about similar experiences and praised God for His grace. I was sad to say goodbye, but it seemed fitting to go by giving her directions to the church that I’d attended for three summers so that she could meet up with her new friends.

I hit the road at 8 p.m., which nicely rounded out my 12-hour stint at Pine Cove. Driving into the sunset, SCC was still singing through the speakers, and I still danced. A mellow song came on, and I noticed that I began to get teary-eyed. I knew I was tired from the whirlwind day, and refused to let my emotions cloud my eyes and my driving. I kept the songs upbeat for the rest of the drive. No stops this time! When I hit Waco, I called Amy, and we talked all the way to Stassney Lane, just two exits from my apartment. Altogether, it was a full and beautiful day. And when I walked in the door just before midnight, I told John I would be sleeping in on Sunday.