Feels So Weird

For ten of the last 12 years, as soon as school was out, summer program was in. I was ready. Everything had been set up at site, my car was full of last-minute items, I was checking and re-checking my lists, Sunshine and I were emailing and texting and we were all set to make the summer fun for the kids.

We had planned for months. We usually started kicking around ideas in December, had some pretty firm plans by the time we worked together over Spring Break, and were ready, ready, ready when school was out.
We all had the most amazing ideas. One of Sunshine's ideas would make me think of something. And one of mine would get Carey thinking. We were all about the kids having fun. Period.
We'd been stockpiling items from home (you'd be surprised about what can be made with a paper towel tube or the lid from a bottle of gatorade) and from our sites, too. Extra paint and brushes, paper, construction paper, glue, fun foam, wiggle eyes... the list was always huge.

We brought a metric fuckton a lot of things from our homes, too. I have a pvc structure that Eric made. We used it for our reading corner. A tie dyed sheet over the top made it like a tent, but we could still see everyone/everything in it. You can't have areas where kids can hide, both for their safety and yours. So the room has to be open. Everything needs to be visible. But it can't be so open that there are runways. Things need to be strategically set up so that kids are safe. So they can't get enough speed to hurt themselves while they're moving from one area to another.

We brought in games and toys and craft supplies. Summer was always great for projects that needed more than one (or two or three or four) sessions to be completed. Drying time. Painting time. Things we could not do at our regular sites due to time constraints/lack of space.

It always took us a full two days to get everything set up just right. Sunshine was always the one in charge... she sees things that other people would not. She was always aware of those runways, for example.

The idea was that even a child who attends program at the summer location during the school year would be amazed when he or she walked in on the first day of summer. Their regular program should be unrecognizable. So amazing and so much fun that they couldn't wait to get there every day.

That quality we brought as a team was referred to by the big fish as 'The wow factor'.

We brought that as a team every year.
Impressed all the corporate types, but that was never our goal.

It happened because all of us were constantly thinking about making things better. More fun. Making it a place that kids would enjoy.

None of the current crop of "managers" would know 'wow' if it bit 'em in the ass.

I had to visit the summer location on Friday with all the snacks and stuff from my site/home that I was contributing. There were many things I'd planned to use for summer that I did not bring, as I won't be there. Sunshine won't be there. Carey won't be there.

I will be getting up at the regular time, since I have a doctor's appointment so we can schedule surgery, but my heart will be with the kids.

I think it's a mean trick on them for them to have been with such an amazing team for so long and then show up and find out they're going to be attending summer school with a few songs and games thrown in.

At least two of my families have changed their summer arrangements due to the location (remember the bees last year... and the heat?) and because, as one mom put it after reading our flyer, "If I wanted her in summer school, I could get that FREE... why would I pay this exorbitant fee?"

I remained professional. I just said that I hope Emily has a lovely summer.