This photo was taken on August, 26, 1991. I was working at a family camp in the Wasatch Mountains and I was on Maintenence Crew. What that effectively meant was that I and my work partner cleaned up after everyone. We cleaned bathrooms, we mowed the lawns, we hauled rocks, we dug holes, we completed the outdoor projects that needed doing, and we even cleaned up the wreckage of a cabin that the director rolled down the hill in order to build a new one. THAT was fun, let me tell you!
The good thing was that I learned to fix a toilet, clean vomit out of urinals without vomiting myself, and drive all kinds of really big (and small) pieces of equipment. I could back a one-ton truck down a very narrow and winding path at a pretty good clip. I could work the big tractor to mow the huge field once a week (and, of course, the smaller mowers to mow all the other lawns), and I almost got to drive the forklift. Dang. Missed opportunity.
When a hummingbird got stuck in the main lodge, they called us. When the director wanted to put in a shuffelboard court and then decided to move it three feet to the left, they called us to come move it and clean it all up. I mentioned the cabin all over the hillside. When campers woke up in the morning or went back to their cabins at night, the bathrooms were sparkling no matter how much mud and junk was tracked in during the day. And we did it all so quietly in the background that people used to ask me if I actually did anything around there (and my work partner would have to hold me back. I did the same for her. It wasn't good PR to try and maul the campers.) When you're a laboror, you're invisible. Not that I'm bitter or anything...
It was an interesting summer. Thanks to Robert Redford, it was much more interesting than it needed to be, but maybe everyone needs a good bout of shigella to be grateful for her health.
4 comments:
Way too funny.
You mean business in that pic!
You know it!
Good times. Sort of. Most of the time.
I'm sorry it was my idea to work there. I'll never forget you cramped up in bed about ready to go into shock. Not fun.
Hey, was I not excited about it, too? It was a job! I just think it was a little much that the kitchen staff always got applause and the maintainence staff always got critiqued.
It was fun that we worked there together. :)
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