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Jill is our cautious kid. That’s actually an understatement! This kid gets all caught up in her own mind and can talk herself out of doing things way more efficiently than we can!
It feels like we’ve really turned a corner in our family this year. Not only has Kate made it to a stage where she is no longer a baby and can take care of herself, but Jill has made it to the stage where she is more than just a kid. This year at camp Jill brought along with her all her usual fears and then she left them at the entrance to the camp.
I knew things were going to be different when she started flinging herself off the high dive on our very first evening at camp. On the whole drive in she’d talked about how the high dive was too scary and she’d just stick with the lower one, but what do I see as I approach the pool from cabin set up? Yep, that picture below!
The next fear she conquered was the zipline. She doesn’t know this, but that was a joint fear. I’d never done the zipline either and I thought it looked pretty scary too! Lynn and I did it together right after lunch on the first day. The hardest part about it was stepping off the platform. Gulp!
Jill kept working it out in her mind and asking all sorts of questions. “How do I get the harness on?” “Does it hurt when I hit the water?” “Do I have to swim far?” and many many more. I honestly thought that with all the questions she was looking for a way to back out. I really didn’t think she was going to do it.
Simply Amazing! Not only did she muster the courage, but she had to wait in line for 20 minutes for a harness her size. She had to THINK about that decision for an extra 20 mintues and she didn’t back out. I was so impressed. Of course it helped to have Allen as her cheerleader and zipline partner (it’s a double line) the whole time. He is very good at that!
If you ask Jill, though, the best part of her weekend was participating in skit night. On the last night they had a whole bunch of campers perform 5 or 6 skits for the whole camp and Jill was one of them. Remember “Drama is My Middle Name?” Yep, that’s my girl! She loved it and she did a great job. Very funny. After the skit and at breakfast the next day she had some strangers come up to her and compliment her on a job well done. You should have seen her blossom with each comment. I now have my marching orders. I’m getting that kid into a drama program!