"This is Gonna Be the Best Day of My Life"--The Motto of the Summer

Some times I like to take inventory on the happenings in my life. This summer, I am interning under an agent that has been a second mother to me for almost as long as I have known her and getting the opportunity to Learn more about the 4-H program from a whole knew perspective. And because the county I am interning in is over an hour away from my home county, I get to live with my best friend (who I met through 4-H years ago). On the way to Lawrence County the night before my first day in the office, the song "Best Day of My Life" came on the radio. In that moment, I knew I wanted to approach every day of this internship with that mentality.

Week One:

Even though I have been close to Caryn for years, I was still a little nervous about the first day. I didn't want to make a complete fool of myself or embarrass Caryn. I even brought extra outfits to work with me to make sure I stayed in the appropriate dress code. But honestly I worried for nothing. That Tuesday morning started with a staff meeting that gave me a great introduction to everyone in the office and started to fill my calender.

My first couple of days were full of paperwork, learning how to work the copier, and stuffing envelopes for the Ag newsletter. I was given a nice little corner in the front of the office, and almost immediately I found a way to decorate it and make it mine. Honestly though, It was a little mind-numbing to be in the office that first week. But then I finally got a taste of what I was after when I applied for this internship: I got to accompany Caryn to one of the local elementary schools to do some Camp Promotion. We picked up some teens who would be counselors at camp from the High School and drove out to this little school in the middle of nowhere. We played some camp dances and did chants with the kids to get them pumped. Every moment filled me with Joy and Energy!

 We had a dilemma the beginning of my second week. Ham sales were about to begin in the office, with over 100 hams, but we only had 30 socks for them! We couldn't get the ham socks overnighted to the office, so I was sent on a mission to UK to pick them up in person. I've always loved driving, so I thought this chance was the bee-knees. When I got to The meat lab, I realized I had no idea where to find anything there. I ended up walking down this long hallway, through double doors into a room with a huge beef carcass hanging from the ceiling! Needless to say, this was the first time I've seen my food between what it looks like alive and what it looks like in the store. I was almost in too much shock to remember to pick up the socks I came for in the first place!

Week Two:

 This week, most of the agents in the state are down in Lexington participating in Teen Conference. Originally, I was supposed to attend with my agent, but the Martin County Agent needed facilitators for a day camp during that week. Caryn and Heather from Floyd County volunteered me and Tyler (Floyd County Intern) to take over for him. I have always loved Teen Conference, but teaching day camps is way cooler because you get to connect with all these youths and watch them learn new things with such excitement!

During the first day of the day camp, things were running pretty smoothly. There was this one little girl, however, who was unresponsive to just about everything I told her to do. The only way I could get her to do anything was to show her first. About an hour or so into the day, an adult finally got around to telling me that the little girl was deaf! That was pretty important information that I wish I had sooner. Luckily for me, I know sign language and I was able to communicate with the little girl. I am in no way fluent, but I know enough to tell her what was going on. The odd thing though, is that whenever I signed to her, I couldn't help but to speak allow the translation in Spanish. I have no idea why the language wires in my head are all crossed, but it was still effective.

At the end of Day Camp today, I got a message to drive straight out to a farm at the opposite side of Lawrence County to participate in a field day. It's an on going joke amongst my 4-H friends that "I don't agriculture," but as far as Julia, the ag agent, is concerned, I'm an ag intern along with 4-H this summer. The day was beautiful up until the end of the program, then it started pouring the rain. It was terrible weather, and since I was on unfamiliar curvy back roads, I drove no faster than 25 mph. Branches and such had fallen into the road, so extra caution had to be placed. Eventually, I have to stop because there is a huge tree blocking both lanes of traffic with no way around it. I sat there in the road for ten minute with out a phone signal and a constant prayer to God until my Ag agent drove up beside me and lead me on yet another back road back to Louisa. I am learning so much so far, and what the biggest lesson so far for me is to always expect the unexpected. You never know when old skills will come in handy or you will need the help of a friend to get you out of a scary situation. I can't wait to see what the rest of this summer has in store for me!