He's Back!

Charlie got home from camp Friday afternoon, safe and sound, all in one piece! He was all business, though, when I arrived at the church for the post-camp performance. He was sitting with the other kids from his group and when I went over to say hello, he replied but didn't offer a hug or anything. Guess he was "focusing."

After he was finished with the first performance (his group doing 2 of their camp cheers), he came over and sat next to me. Then, he went right up to do the 2nd performance and came back to sit with me again. I think he was unsure at first if he could leave his group. I also think he had to deal with his emotions -- he was happy to be home but had such a good time at camp, he wants to go back. When I walked in the door of the church, the first person who saw me said, "Your son did so good at camp!" and then the camp nurse commented on how mature Charlie was when coming to take his medicine. The only indication that I can see that he might have experienced some stress at camp was that he did some sleepwalking Friday night. He came into the living room about 1.5 hours after going to bed and was saying "wait" "wait" and was walking quickly. I intercepted him and walked him back to bed. He woke up and I asked him if others had left him behind at camp, and he said, "yes, Nathan." He hasn't said anything else about it so I wonder if he had just been dreaming.

I learned that he had sausage every morning for breakfast and that for dinners he had lasagna and meatballs and spaghetti and meatballs. Apparently, for one of the meals he had mashed potatoes and "graby." He also visited the snack shack quite a few times. He said that the counselors in his cabin, Justin and Jamal, had a meeting every night after the kids went to bed and that they woke them up every morning. Justin and Jamal never slept. :) Also, the pastor on the trip, Pastor Shane, had to come into Charlie's cabin the first night to tell the boys to turn off their flashlights, stop talking and go to sleep. Charlie said he was not playing with his flashlight and that he was trying to sleep. (Hmmm....). He told someone we saw at McDonald's Friday night that he had been to camp and had a good time. Then, with a dead pan expression and monotone voice, he said, "and grow deeper with God." It was so matter-of-fact! He is telling me about his week in bits and pieces, but I can tell that he had a wonderful time and actually matured a little bit. He is already talking about going back next year. I am grateful that he was well taken care of and that he had this opportunity. I'm also really glad to have him home and back in his own bed!