Hmmm... well, it seems we can't outrun ourselves. I'm going to give it a shot later this evening, but given my current location, and the content of this post, it seems that I am stuck with me.

It's been an interesting turn of events that has led me to this post tonight. And, like all epic stories, this tale began... on Facebook.

Several weeks ago, shortly after relocating to the grounds of Dauphin Bible Camp, I received a message from a guy who was, as far as I can tell, a camp counsellor at DBC during my first summer there, a full 14 years ago. Let's see, divide my life by 3, and it was at the end of the first chunk, almost exactly. (Useless fact. But hey, sorta puts life into perspective, don't it?)

This guy wanted to know if I was THE Kelly Cochrane, the infamous poet who had apparently charmed him with her 7-year-old rhyming ways back in the day. Apparently some kid had submitted some pretty wacky poems to the camp newspaper in 1993. I said... "hmmm, from that description, I can't tell you, but it sure sounds like me!" (No, I'm not being vain, but I WAS one of those nerdy kids who took Journalism religiously at camp and would likely have done something like that). But, just to confirm (a.k.a. amuse myself), I asked the guy to send me these poems to refresh my memory.

Now, I re-read the poems and they did start to come back to me, but just to be clear here, I'm still not entirely certain if I wrote these poems or just submitted them to the paper, neglecting to name an author other than myself. So whether you are currently reliving with me "My First Publication" or "My First Plagiarism" is still unclear... but hey, either way, to do so at 7 is pretty prestigious!



As I told the counsellor in our e-mail exchange, the thing I remember most vividly is putting "7 going on 8" in the paper... now, I wasn't one of those kids who was always trying to act or sound older, but my concerns here were quite legitimate (I thought)... the youngest age you could come to camp back then was 8 (now we have Young Camper's week), but since I was always a year younger than everyone else in my grade, when everyone else was 8, I was still 7. So my mom called the camp and asked if I could come at 7 (they'd let Becca do the same 2 years earlier)... they let me come, but I was still quite concerned that everyone would find out I was 7 and immediately band together in unity, crying "You don't belong here- you're SEVEN!!!" and chasing me from the camp like a good old-fashioned exorcism - hence the apologetic "(going on 8)" tagged on to the end of every "Kelly" credit in the paper.

Ahhh, yes, there was more. The determined little under-age writer that I was, I actually somehow qualified for a personal interview- me and Fred Penner (who was apparently camp speaker or something that week... who knows?) Yup, I was in the big leagues.

Does anyone else get positively mortified when seeing pictures or hearing stories of themselves in younger years? I mean, supposedly it was cute at the time, but reading about it feels a bit like staring at a train wreck- a train wreck named ME.

Anyways, I'm just going to bite the bullet and hope you'll allow all the grace due to someone who wrote this only a third of the way into the life she now leads...

Interview

NAME: KELLY COCHRANE

Q: How old are you?

A: Seven going on eight.

Q: Why did you come to camp?

A: Because her best friend didn't want to be a Christian, so I came to be one.

Q: What's God doing in your life:

A: Making a difference. Making me a better person.

Q: What is your favorite food?

A: Maccaroni!

Q: Favorite Bible character?

A: Jesus

Q: What are your future plans?

A: To become a dancer.

Q: What is your favorite verse?

A: Ephesians something. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

Q: What is your favorite saying?

A: Oh nuts!


Well folks, I think we have plenty of fodder for commentary, to say the least. Always eager to amuse you, I remain faithfully yours,

~Kelly Ann Cochrane, age 21 (going on 22!)

Hmmm... Camp. I'm very surprised to be here right now. It is, as some cheesy movie (the name of which currently eludes me) phrased it, "surreal but nice."

I remember, back when I was young, and 16, and idealistic, making a pledge to myself, after having spent a full 8 years here as a camper, proudly carrying on the Cochrane tradition, and upon becoming a camp counselor for the first time, that I would not be one of those people who comes to camp for one summer and then "moves on". I pledged, then and there, to work at camp for at least 2 summers.

When grade 12 started, I got my first real, good paying, not for my mom's catering company job. I was a Sandwich Artist. I was a great Sandwich Artist. I could write customer's names on their subs. In Mayo. Or Mustard. Upside down. (For better customer-name viewing). The applause was deafening. (My friends thought it was cute).

After graduation, I continued my work-more-than-humanly-possible approach to the tuition payment plan, and such as been the state of my summers ever since, with just the tiniest niggling and nagging of that one little "woulda-coulda-shoulda" in the back of my mind.

Which brings us to the present.

In the midst of the zillions of possibilities and scenarios that swirled about me as I tried to nail down the substance of my summer months, somehow camp grabbed a hold of me once again (thanks in no small part to the aggressive recruitment techniques of the dear Carma and Richard Bankert, terror tactics which I have now come to embrace unquestioningly, since my official christening as "one of them").

Here I am, taking the biggest dive of my life (debatably), joining the Dauphin Bible Camp Crew this summer as Program Director, no less. This means that when people have questions, they ask ME. ME! And then I make up an answer, and deliver it as confidently as possible. Me, the girl who worked here one summer five years ago. Yup, she's the new go-to.

After a few days of blissful ignorance to the "weight of my duties", and then a few days of pretending to have a clue, I think I finally got up to speed about a week and a half into my new employment arrangement, which started the first of May. Now, at 2 and a half weeks into it, I'm getting very excited for both the challenge and the opportunity that faces me.

Great things about being at DBC:
1) I'm fulfilling that old personal goal/resolution of mine to be here for 2 years (at least).
2) Front row seats to the first days, weeks, and months of DBC's official coolest child ever, Carma and Richard (director)'s new baby, Brooklynn Dawn.
3) Back at camp, aka back to my roots. It's weird, even though I've only worked here for one summer (besides that one week they roped me in last year for Special Needs Camp), I've spent SO much of my childhood out here, and it is (fortunately) all coming back to me, the intricacies of the schedules, the Wide Games, etc. I mean, programming for crafts for a whole week before realizing that we cut the crafts skill 2 years ago? I call that nostalgia.
4) Living in the past. Sure, my friends spent a good portion of the last half-decade up here, while I made my fortunes (BAH!) out there in the wild, wild... Parkland. But now that I am here, how dare they not return to counsel another year? Basically, my recruitment list consists of several fantastic people who are at this point so deep in student loan debt that they'd laugh at me to my face if the crushing weight of it all weren't so stifling. So....

New list. The "staff needed" list. If you fit any of these things (and more!) please direct your fascination and enthusiasm towards our website, www.dauphinbiblecamp.com , where you can access online applications for virtually anything imaginable! (Well, mostly just these things listed below). We are currently still looking for:
-Assistant Program Director (male). Or, as I like to say, the person who will fetch my slippers and get my coffee. Gee, I wonder why no one has yet applied?
-Head Wrangler. Must have serious skills in the area of horsing around. If you are good with horses but not THAT good, we also need just regular wranglers.
-Head Lifeguard. NLS required. We have a beautiful salt-water pool (trust me, it's sweet) just waiting for kids to lounge, splash, and have a riot in it, and if you enjoy blowing whistles and can swim like a fish (or a duck, or a bear- they're good too), please apply!
-Camp Nurse. Or, the politically correct version, Health Officer. Actually, Health Officer is far more accurate because you don't need to be an RN to be one. If you think you've got what it takes, check it out at www.dauphinbiblecamp.com.
- CLT Program Instructor. Basically, you need camp background experience, the benefits of age and wisdom, and a heart for camp, for the Lord, and for teaching.
-Senior Cabin Leaders (male and female). Over 18, must have camp counseling experience, or some pretty sweet character references.
There is also a need for kitchen staff, male junior cabin leaders, work crew- you name it, if you're willing to give it, we need it.

Alright. The Kelly Recruits Readers Worldwide! segment is now officially over. Relax. You made it. And just in time to hear my thoughts on the glorious thing we know as Dauphin Bible Camp:

It's beautiful. It's serene. I'm so isolated I think I may go nuts. But as spring hits, the creek thaws, and the squirrels and bears wander like they own the place, there is a second life renewing and regaining force here. Something Else is stirring. Someone Else is moving.

5 people inhabit this camp in the month of May. One of us is no older than May itself. But in the midst all this deafening stillness, God is doing something out here, among the empty cabins that wait in eager expectation. And I think I'm right where I want to be.