A dedicated daughter of the Great Spirit

I have been excited about this post. Those who know Annie well, know that she can set real high standards for herself in her creative pursuits (design, cooking, etc). About two and a half weeks ago she told me that she was planning to build a teepee for girls camp. After "participating" in some of last year's girls camp projects, my first thought was oh boy. At first I figured this was more of a prop than anything else... it soon became clear that this was not to be an academic exercise, this thing was to be the real deal.
Annie researched teepees, found patterns, scoped everything out. She started making a 14 foot teepee from scratch!! We bought and gathered old sheets, and she started sewing. With some help from a friend, and yours truly, she sewed hundreds of feet of fabric together (SOO many seems). Poles was a real challenge. the real deal would be wooden poles... not gonna happen (especially on top of our car). The compromise was PVC conduit pipe (10 feet lengths with additions). This way they could be pulled apart and reassembled. They were certainly less solid than wood, but they did OK.
I'll bet Annie put 60 hours into this teepee. The girls loved it, but I am sure they don't understand how much time and effort went into it. As was noted by a friend, that they wont know until they do a similar project for their girls camp girls.
I am sure you don't need a 14-foot teepee for a successful girls camp, but I sure am inspired by Annie when she gets these ideas and sees them through (after significant personal sacrifice). She is amazing!

Jake