There are several things that haven’t changed much throughout my life. Most kids will beg and plead to stay in the bed with their parents at night. Me on the other hand, I wanted to be in my own bed and by myself. That aspect of me hasn’t changed much. I am not a fan of sharing my bed, and for the most part, I am not a snuggle person when I sleep. I am the weird one who says “do not touch me while I am sleep.” I alone put off plenty of body heat while sleeping so I really don’t care to add anybody else’s. I like to be cool when I sleep. Dead of winter my ceiling fan stays on high and I still sleep like a baby.
The first night of camp we all got to sleep in our own tents. I was comfy flying solo. I stayed warm and toasty snuggled into my sleeping bag. Night two of camp my luggage was lost so some squad mates offered up lodging in their tents. First things I said was “I don’t snuggle.” Maybe in a situation where it was SUPER super cold out I might reconsider. My mom even laughs about this and says “what are you going to do one day when you get married?” I will worry about that speed bump when I get there. Anyways, night two of camp I was offered a sleeping bag while my tent mate slept on the sleeping pad and bundled up in clothes.
Nigh three of camp was another night without a tent. The squad found ourselves in an international airport in Africa overnight due to a layover. Let me just say, I have never been in an airport that was THAT loud. The walls were shaking every time a plane took off, and it was so cold in there. I looked around and there were people laid out everywhere. Some people made their “beds” across the airport chairs. Some people squeezed sleeping pads together to make room for others to have a cozy surface to lay on. People were slowly dozing off all around. I remember Eva laying on the right side of me and she said “Can we snuggle for a little bit till I get warm.” I offered her my jacket instead. A few of us stayed up till after 2 A.M. talking and playing cards. I woke up at one point in the night and turned onto my left side and poor Jason was curled up just trying to stay warm. Right then I thought “God, you are trying to be funny aren’t you.” Two nights of situations where snuggling and body heat would work and here I am “anti-snuggler.”
The forth night of camp was a pretty similar situation to the previous night, we were stuck in the super cold building due to a tornado watch. Thankfully most of us had our sleeping bags and pads back for that experience so there really wasn’t a need for snuggling. Then there was night five…a night without tents, just us in our sleeping bags and pads under the stars. We built a camp fire, sang, praised, prayed, and witnessed miracles happen in our squad. We truly had a night of bonding for our squad. Layers were peeled back, feelings were worn on our sleeves, and stories were shared around our campfire. That night I had no choice but to snuggle because I surely didn’t want to be on the end when it was that cold out (plus some of us got rained on to add to the coldness). I had Bailey on one side of me and Angela on the other. Anna was at my feet and I was using Jason’s legs to be my pillow support. Literally, I was completely surrounded. My comfort zone of no snuggling was done for that night. That night I realized my life next year will probably make me learn to embrace snuggling. Heck, my personal bubble was already popped, guess I should let my “anti-snuggles” go with it too. The next couple of nights were spent in close comers as well.
The next area of God and his sense of humor, I was placed on an ALL girls team. As soon as teams were announced and I heard my team get called I literally smirked and laughed about it and thought it my mind “anything else up your sleeve Lord?” Anybody who knows me knows I am not the chick who says “I really need some girl time.” I don’t sit around and talk about my emotions, I don’t like getting my nails painted, I don’t care about watching the Bachelor, or catching up on gossip. I am not prissy, I can’t stand lace, and makeup is not a necessity in my life. I want my guy time over girl time 99 percent of the time. I grew up with bothers, I work around mostly men, some of my best friends are guys. An all girl team, what????
It’s cool big guy. I am sure I need this. I went into this thinking “Your will, Your way,” and I am not changing my thinking. So a year with all chicks, lord heaven help me. Talk about something out of my comfort zone, that is it. I can only laugh about it though because deep down I know I need this. I don’t need my “guy time” all the time, I need my “God time.”
So my personal bubble has been popped, my “anit-snuggler” quality is going to get left behind, and I am going to learn how to be around females for an entire year. With that being said, let me introduce you to the amazing team I will be serving with next year…
From left to right, top row: Stacie Wilson, Melissa Bjorklund, and Chelsea Winn.
Bottom row: Melanie Wells, Bailey Balenti, Me, and Hilary Hannigan.
