When you’re 16 years old your job opportunities are limited when you live in an unpopulated area.

I could either spend my summer flipping burgers at the local fast food joint or I could take a job working at your camp across town.

I have these delusional ideas that it would be fun to spend the summer outside in the woods working with kids, boy was I wrong. I think all of the money I earned went to pay for the calamine lotion that I had to apply because of all the bug bites or sunscreen that I needed to survive the day’s out on the lake. I was pretty much exhausted at the end of every day yet I was unable to sleep here because the small sheds they had been sleeping in did not have any form of air conditioning. They called them cabins but they were simply a wooden box with cots and a small box for our belongings. Even the showers and bathrooms were open to the outdoors and often filled with bugs. Hanging out with the kids was kind of cool but even that could be stressful at times because many of them did not get along. It was our job to make them happy and help them to work together but sometimes it just seemed impossible. The best part of the job was the two days when I was able to go home, take a real shower, do my laundry, and sleep in my own bed where I had air conditioning. Those two days would often revive me to be able to make it through my next five day shift. All-in-all I guess it was character-building as they say but I don’t necessarily recommend that job to teenagers.

Whole home heating