100 Sounds To See

For many years now, I have been the cook at the girl scout camp. My daughter is now one of the "aides" and helps with the younger girls. What is so fantastic is to see hundreds of children and adults all enjoying the week. No cell phones, no mp3 players, no TV, just the sounds of laughing kids and the natural setting around them.

So, for one week, it is like it was years ago, before all the technical gadgets became such a big part of our waking hours. Are we better off? Email is a lifesaver for me, it allows me to communicate with friends and family. So efficient. Texting, once again, great for me, I can "hear" through the messages that most folks would have in a quick phone conversation. The captions on the TV allow me to enjoy a show and not miss content.

But, the quiet. The listening. I ask you...are we better off? I know that it would be a catastrophe if suddenly facebook ended. If cell phones were taken away and computers just weren't available. If we were transported back to a time when it didn't play such a big role in our day. It really wasn't so long ago, was it?

So, I look at the girls and their smiles. At the end of the camp, they are exhausted from all the physical exercise, the campfires, the crafts. It's one week that takes them back to how it once was for kids and gives them a memory that will far outshine anything that they will see on their computer screen.

By the way....in one week, I cook over 400 hot dogs and 30 pounds of ground beef and I enjoy every minute of it.