Holly Blog 19: Thin Film of Dirt

One thing the camp director warned me about when I first got here is that 1) Nothing will ever be really dry, and 2) Nothing will ever be really clean. How true those words have attested in the past however long I’ve been in Holly, Michigan.

Today, we had to clean out the cabins in which we will be living when the campers get here which will hopefully be Monday—like 5 days. I have been trying to figure out what I’ll say to campers when they start complaining about their living situations. After cleaning for 2 days, the LAST thing I want to hear is “These are so dirty!” To which I’ll reply, “Y’all shut up! You should have seen them before we cleaned them!” Part of me thinks I should rephrase my response.

I just found out (but don’t tell my mother) that I really enjoy sweeping. It’s so relaxing and I can see immediate gratification. I loathe dusting, but sweeping satisfies my soul somehow. I’ve been triple-sweeping the floors here and even on the 3^rd time over, there’s still more dirt. Eventually, you have to do a mind-over-matter trick which goes something like, “Yes, this is dirt. The rest of the world lives in poverty with dirt everywhere and they’re not dead. Therefore, I probably won’t die from it. I must be content with dirt. Therefore, I am satisfied.” Or something like that. Depending on the circumstance, the mind-over-matter trick can be adjusted.

After sweeping, I would mop. And the water would be absolutely filthy. DID I NOT JUST SWEEP?! Where did all this dirt come from?!

This is similar to my skin at the moment. I do go to the lake to bathe. The water here smells like rust and dirt because it’s well water. Lucky me. I’m fine with drinking it now—it most definitely took 4-5 days of gagging to get used to it. But I don’t enjoy smelling it and I actually feel cleaner when I bathe with my Dr. Bronner’s 18-in-1 Magic Soap flavored Lavender. It’s the best. But even then, there’s a film of dirt that my skin and psyche has become accustomed to. When I get home, I’m going to live in the shower with steaming HOT water for at least 2.5 hours..maybe 2.5 days.

One amazing thing about lake swimming is I don’t get bitten by mosquitoes as much. Maybe because I now smell like nature, they can’t find me. I got two itty-bitty nibbles, but that was it.

This is definitely a time when I appreciate being brown. Dirt is brown and this thin film of brown essence nicely complements my epithelial layer thus producing a nice radiant glow.

Or maybe that’s just sweat.

JLP