Feels like I can beat it?

For a good few years, I was a teacher at Lansdown Middle School in Victoria, British Columbia.

I loved my job.

Teaching wasn't something I'd ever really seen myself doing.

It certainly wasn't a career I'd talked about with high school guidance counselors.

I kind of fell into it by accident.

Long story short, I couldn't get into the college I wanted to, so I had to basically choose

between that and nursing, so I chose the one with less blood and guts involved.

Every year we take a bunch of grade 8 students up to a place called Camp Barnard at Otter

Point, just west of Suk.

It's a scout camp that built on land gifted by Senator George Henry Barnard, who was a prominent

advocate of hunting and outdoor activities in general.

There are a lot of fun things for the kids to get up to up at the camp.

There's a playing field, a nature trail, a swimming pool, a lake for canoeing and paddle

boarding, even an archery range and disc golf course.

The kids absolutely adore heading up there for a few days, and there's always a palpable

feeling of excitement every year and the run-up to the field trip up there.

And I'd be lying if I said I didn't look forward to it too.

That kind of stuff really brings out the big kid in me, you know?

It was the last week of the school year when we potted onto a bus and drove over to the

camp to begin our few days of fun.

The weather is normally pretty peachy during that time of year, but last year there were

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