Sundays

Sundays were always a bit of a laugh. Although we did not make much money at Camp, it was still a great experience. One, we didn't work that hard. Second, all your food and lodging was taken care of. Your day to day expenses were essentially zero. Particularly if you were pretty loose on your personal hygiene. There was no need to shave and a swim in the lake worked just as well as a shower.

Mon - Sat the routine was pretty similar. Breakfast at 0730, lunch at 1200 and dinner around 1800. Although the boyscouts is in no way affiliated with the military, there definitely were some aspects that were military like. Prior to breakfast and dinner the flag was raised and lowered, respectively. We saluted the flag. But, since we definitely were not a paramilitary organization, we used a different salute. Instead of extending all four fingers, you only extended the index finger and the middle finger. You curled the ring finger and pinky finger under the thumb. Unlike the military, we did not salute each other. Also, unlike the military there was a lot more freedom given to how you wear the uniform and whether you needed to wear all the different components. You would often see a scout in the official uniform shirt and a pair of athletic shorts. This may have been at least in part due to the fact that the official uniform shorts would have made Daisy Duke proud. They were pretty damn short.

Sundays were different. There was no breakfast and lunch, rather, there was brunch that kicked off around 1000. The rationale was that most troops left on Saturday and the new troops would not get in until late Sunday morning to Sunday evening. By skipping lunch, there was plenty of staff on hand to assist with the arriving troops. The load and I enjoyed drinking a ton of coffee on Sunday mornings. There was always a few of us who would show up a couple of hours before the meal was to begin. There was always plenty of coffee. You needed to make many trips though because the camp coffee mugs were only a bit bigger than a typical espresso cup. That was all part of the routine though. You would pass the time with all sorts of pointless conversations about life in general, and the last week in particular. It was a wonderful way to unwind, while getting ready for the next week. Perhaps it was this routine that was quite appealing. Although each week would be a bit different than the one before it, the routine was the same. Those Sunday mornings marked the end of one week and the beginning of the next.