This week, Aly starts a summer job that’s perfect for her. She will spend a good chunk of her summer at a summer camp on the west coast. Her position: Outdoor Living Skills Specialist. Is that perfect, or what?
She would have preferred a paid gig on an archaeological dig, but this is the next best thing.
She’s a “legacy” of sorts at the camp. Her great grandmother, for whom she’s named, used to take her young charges to this same camp many years ago.
Working under an assumed names (staff and counselors go by nicknames) she and another young lady will teach primary to high school kids how to handle themselves safely in the outdoors, start safe, controlled fires, chop firewood, wildcraft food, and more. She also intends to try to instill in them an appreciation for the natural world.
We heard from her the day after she arrived; she’s apparently having a blast! The staff will have a week to themselves at the camp, then the kids will come in for week long camping experiences.
She’ll wrap up mid-August, at which time she’ll fly home for a while. How long that will be depends on whether or not she can find a good job here in town. Luckily, she’ll arrive about the time most young people her age need to start back to college, so she might be able to find a shoulder season job for a while. Of course, by then, we’ll be so glad to have her home, I’m tempted to pay her to hang around the homestead every day!
Was there ever a blog written by you relative to being “empty nesters” that I might have missed this past year while your daughter was away at her first year of college? If not, have you considered sharing your your empty-nest thoughts and experiences, i.e., frequency of communication, financial arrangements, curriculum, etc.
Hi Judy, I just searched the term “empty nest” on the blog and found only one post on this subject. Homestead 2.0 came to mind immediately, but I thought there might have been others. It appears that I have managed to keep my whining and moaning about not having our little girl home fairly quiet. This surprises me….
Aly’s been at college two years now. We wrote a few posts about her, such as World Turned Upside Down, which had a bad effect–too many people read into the post that we were worrying about Aly, when, in fact, it was rather the opposite. That experience, plus concerns for Aly’s privacy and ours have kept us from exploring the topic too deeply on the blog. The post: You Want Breakfast in Bed? Get it Yourself! is an exception, predictable in that it came at Christmas time.
You raise a good point, though. Our communication methods have changed so much since Michelle and I were in college, it’s a very different playing field. Perhaps I’ll look into that soon. Thanks for the suggestion!
Sounds great! I’ve got one gran-daughter working at a camp this summer and one doing an internship with an architectural firm. The one at camp will be a fitness trainer/water girl with the Mississippi State football team this year – all 95 pounds of her and the other one has been offered employment with the firm when she graduates this year. Its good when the kids can find something to do at something they like.