Thursday, April 14, 2011

During my 20's...


I worked at a camp. I loooooved it. One of the greatest times in my, before babies, life. I was a never a camp kid, myself. My mother would have been much to controlling for her daughter to go somewhere where they did not shower every night. Kinda joking, but kinda serious too. The camp I worked at was on a Island all of it's own.
   
 It was beautiful, perfect place that still shows up in my dreams every now & again. We were a staff of 32 & we ran that damn Island & boy did we rock it. We were a family. We lived together for 4 months out of the year. We had no tv, no cell phones. It was just us & this beautiful island & the outdoors{&too much coffee & intense games of trival pursit, & rounds of who would you rather, oooh I could go on & on}. Seriously, it rocked.
     




That job was a major stepping stone in my life. The people I met, the insight it gave me to what is important & not important{like, it's okay to not shave your legs for a week or to take a group of teenagers out on an overnight canoe trip & forget the drinking water, we figured it out}. I loved that job & loved the people I worked/lived with too. It was one of the first times in my life where I truly felt like I fit in, ya know. Unfortunately not many of those people are in my life anymore...nothing more then pathetic facebook friends now. Crazy, really. I had honestly figured these people would be in my life for ever. But not the way it turned out. They were a very close  group of people, many  who grew up together. I dated one of them for 4 years. During our breakup, he got custody of our group of friends & I cut ties{in no way did anyone make me do this, it's just what ended up happening}. Brutal. Cuz I needed them & I know if I would have told them that they would have been there for me. But at the time I was ripping a guy' s heart out & I thought it was the least I could give him...our friends. So I backed off. Regret, baby.
  
BUT I do not regret my camp experience at all. In fact I  am more than thankful for all the fantastic memories I have from that time in my life. For four months out of the year,  I got to canoe, sail, swim, & a hundred other things, all with an amazing group of friends & {almost always}an amazing group of kids...I worked with the seniors, the teenagers. OOOH my, was it fun at times. But looking back, what I remember most is laughing with them. I mean, nobody has laughattacks like teenage girls, & even though I was bitchin grumpin at them to get the hell to sleep they always had me laughing. They taught me alot those crazy girls.

I always think about camp this time of year. The staff will be heading out there in a month. I remember just wanting this last month of school to be over to get out there. I think because you were almost cut off from ordinary day to day living, you felt a certain sense of relief when you walked on the island. Everyone said that.... Staff. Campers. It's probably what kept everyone going back.

I wonder if my boys will be little campers.....

3 comments:

TexaGermaFinlaNadian said...

What an awesome experience! Sounds like a dream camp! I am sorry you lost contact with a lot of those people. But I have a feeling many of those campers will never forget you for life :) Really cool post!

Jodi said...

Sounds like a great experience. I volunteered for a week at The Hole in The Wall Gang Camp in CT and it was an awesome experience. But I can only handle a week of "camping" ha!

Ixy said...

What a great post - I could almost smell the campfire and roasted marshmallows. It's sad how forever friends often end up being temporary after all, and that someone usually ends up with sole custody of those friends.

Thanks for visiting my blog last week :)