VISIT WITH COLLIN AT VERMONT YOUTH CONSERVATION CORPS
Notice the new rugged beard - Collin has a love/hate relationship with it!
It seems a matter of ease - he doesn't have to shave it, so it's easy - but hot and collects crumbs!
We were able to visit Collin at Vermont Youth Conservation Corp on Saturday. It was going into the 5th week of a 7 week assignment. He will come home in 2 weeks! He looked good - had lost some weight, but not too much and was in good physical condition. It is obvious that it is strenuous physical work. There are 5 young men and 5 young women ranging in ages from 16 to 19. There are 2 leaders included in the 10 - and they are 21 or 22, I would guess. Most of the kids were 18. Only 1 was 16. Collin is the biggest guy - and they call him "ox", which is kind of funny.
They have done several weeks of cleaning up watersheds from debris related to Irene, they have built trails, dug out large rocks, worked in neighborhood gardens in exchange for food. The group is surviving on a shoestring budget for food, and it seems the people of Vermont know this - as they recounted several stories of receiving free food or food for volunteer work from the community. They seemed to get quite a kick out of this!
Collin's tentmate is a young man from Houston, TX; one of the young ladies is from Lake Lelanau - so there are some commonalities with some of the kids. He is being exposed to new ideas and new ways of being in the world. Some very interesting, some...well - unique. The "Conservation" set is a bit of a different breed altogether. One young man is reading "Kabir", and has told Collin about him (Indian mystic and poet); Collin told me he picked up "Dante's Inferno" - which I could not have bribed him into reading myself. He's talking about wanting to take a "gap year" after his sophomore year of college and go to Hawaii to work with a group affiliated with VYCC. I'm sure we've never talked about a "gap" anything in our home. One of the girls just returned from a year in Ecuador living on a farm in the countryside, and working the farm. They seem to come from backgrounds far different than Collin, and so I think it was an eye-opening experience how different others experience life.
We met the group at North Beach in Burlington. The beach is on Lake Champlain - which is huge, and beautiful! The kids said it was cold, but refreshing. All the parents brought food - and the group provided salads and chips. Bill and Collin cooked the hotdogs on a propane stove, which is how they cook much of their food.
They said every night after they cook dinner, they use the heat of the "oven" to bake their own bread (made from scratch) for the next day's food. So, they work all day in the heat, then they come home and made their own dinner, they do their dishes, and then bake their own bread - quite a bit of work. And they don't seem to go hungry. Great life lessons!
They had great fun recounting the black bear getting into their food and into their tents. One gal had the water bottle with bear incisor holes in it as proof. That merited moving the camp site - as the bear managed to get into their "kitchen" and do a good amount of damage and found and ate some of their food. Cleanliness doesn't seem to be as big of a concern as you might think. They have gone a week without showers, dug latrines at campsites and utilized maple leaves for toilet paper. They seem to have adapted to eating out of their hands vs. plates and dishes (fewer dishes to wash is their rationale). I'm not sure I could so easily adapt! So far, no one has died from lack of cleanliness.
We were supposed to visit from 12-3, but with a sufficient amount of badgering, the kids extended the visits to from 3-6, parents were permitted to do laundry with them and walk in the downtown area while the laundry was going. It was really nice to just be a family alone together again! We shopped and we ate again which was nice to have some privacy to talk with Collin. We bought a few necessities - and Collin found a necklace he liked that we bought for him. It's funny to see how his tastes are changing and his world enlarged.
We had a great visit! I think we all miss each other even more than we did before the visit! I feel more at peace knowing he's well and happy and thriving. And glad that he will be home again soon.
In other news - not to be forgotten: Ben got his first "official job" working at Moe's, which is a Northeast franchise Mexican restaurant similar to Chipotle. Since he is only 16, he has do do a job that operates no machines - so he will be a dishwasher (gotta love New York State Labor Laws)! They don't use a dishwasher, just spray down the trays.
He starts Monday with orientation and is looking forward to making his own money! Great job, Ben! We're proud of you!
Well, more later! Hope all of you are well and enjoying your summer!
Blessings,
Deb
