The thing about camp...

The thing about camp is that I never want to come home. Theoretically, that is. A week is plenty long to plan activities and games for 25 teenagers. It’s long enough to be away from home. It’s long enough to never really have time alone. On the other hand, how long is long enough to spend in a place so unbelievably gorgeous that every time I walked outside, I was amazed again at the beauty of it? How long is long enough to fall asleep to the river right below my window? How long is long enough to watch the sunset not only in the west, but then bouncing off the mountains to the east? How long is too long to stand by a warm campfire, and then later pick up your shirt and smell that campfire smell? How long is too long to lay shoulder to shoulder in the meadow and look up into a pitch black sky, unmarred by any sort of city lights, and see what has got to be every star in the sky? I just don’t think there’s a “too long” for any of those, especially the last one. My favorite thing is by far the stars. Phenomenal.

The thing about camp is that you can never explain WHY it was so awesome, you just know that it WAS so awesome. When people ask what I did, and I try to explain it, it doesn’t work. We played cards and hung out and did all kinds of contests and teamwork type activities. We stayed up late and got up early and for the first time, I finally understood the phrase “fell asleep when my head hit the pillow” because one night, I actually fell asleep before my head hit the pillow.

I could tell you about all of the laughing and how I don’t think I’ve laughed that much in a realllllllly long time. I could tell you what we were laughing about, but it totally doesn’t translate to words. You definitely had to be there. I could tell you about the giant bear that came into camp and how I totally could have been mauled by him twice, but you’d probably say I was exaggerating. Yes, I would be exaggerating a little. There WAS a giant bear and I potentially COULD have walked right into him one night had I not been too lazy to walk across the meadow to the lodge where he happened to be destroying the trash enclosure. And the second time was less of a close call – I HEARD him over in the trash again, and it scared me, and so I decided since it was 2 a.m. and I was outside alone, I might head on into bed. I stopped at the bathroom and when I came out I freaked out because ohmygod what if he’s right outside the door? He was not. Hey, it was dark, it was late, and I have an active imagination. It could have happened to anyone.

The thing about camp is that yeah, maybe I was pretty tired when all was said and done – but whatever, I can sleep when I’m home. I could have gone to bed earlier, I could have taken a nap during the day, but then I’d miss something fun. I’m alone at home all the time – one week of being around people all the time was totally fun. Planning activities for the kids was fun because they’d do whatever we wanted them to in the name of competition. Clearly I avoided the bear, so I’m all in one piece.

The thing about camp is that I got to spend a lot of time with people that I love. So yeah. It’s pretty, it’s fun, it’s everything you could possibly ask for, and it’s all made even better by the people you’re there with. We’ve got it all – hugs, kisses, laughter, tears, singing, dancing, yelling, silence, and most of all, the best friends ever. It might sound cheesy, but it’s true.

The thing about camp is that you had to be there to even begin to understand how awesome it is. Are you jealous? Because you totally should be.