I'm gettin' too old for this stuff

So I spent the weekend in the North Georgia mountains with a group of 28 Senior High youth. They were great, fun, chatty, all-in-all some great times were had. Paint ball was a new experience for yours truly, and I must say I was glad my husband knew what I was up to.

I have 8 dark beautiful bruises courtesy of those sweet darling children! And by the way, when the paint balls hit you but don't pop...it REALLY hurts. The others just sting...and my two cents on the whole thing is that it's just rather masochistic! I mean, your hiding behind a blow up "X" aiming for another persons head while someone else is shooting you...all the while knowing you spent $$ to experience this fun. Ya, don't know if I'll be going back. I was terrible! The kids all wanted me on their teams to draw fire and take the hit so they could move further through the field! Good strategy if you ask me...But hard on an old lady.

The other item of the weekend which about did me in was the food. Now if you know anything about teenagers, you have to know that they're always hungry. Even when they're not hungry, they're hungry. So to maintain good graces with all I arrived at the retreat with a bag full of junk. M&Ms, full size candy bars, sour patch kids, twizzlers, bag of pretzels, bag of Frito's and bean dip. Mind you--this made the kids very happy--which is what it was intended to do. However, putting this stuff down my throat only made for a sore tummy! And who's to blame for that?...ya, me. I just seem to somehow forget sometimes that my 35 year-old metabolism isn't cut out for junk like that any more.

The one thing I'm always reminded of after a weekend like this is that these kids are right on the verge of independence. Several of them will be in college in just a few months. These kids are the future of our country...and without sounding quite so melodramatic...they're doing great. They have so much to offer and they're thinking about more than just what's coming up the next weekend. (ya, they think about all that stuff too), but it just seems sometimes like this group I've been working with is handling so much more pressure so much earlier than I did. I'm really proud of them.