Ch 12

A camp story

June

"My friend works at an all-summer-long camp out East. They have reunions every winter. All of the counselors and kids go back for a weekend and they go sledding and stay in the cabins and drink hot chocolate in the lodge," Fitz explains. Eric and I walk beside her towards the dining hall. It's just the three of us outside, the last of everyone heading into dinner from flagpole.

"You guys we've got to make this happen. Can you imagine how great it would be to see the kids from all of these sessions mix together?" I start listing off the possibilities on my fingers, "Noelle and Jackie could be best friends. Ben and Sam would be hilarious together. Peter and the twins' interaction would be awesome."

"Best. Idea. EVER." Eric punches the air with his fist.

A reunion like this was unprecedented. Could we convince the full-time staff at camp that this idea of a CILT reunion was something we should pursue and develop? Our t-shirts were sweaty under our backpack straps because of the early June humidity but we were already daydreaming about a time when we would be at camp sliding on icy sidewalks pulling our coats closed tight.

October

Hey CILTs!
Do you ever wish you could have just one more day at Camp T with all your CILT friends? We've got great news for you--we're going back! For the first time in Camp Tecumseh's history we're having a winter CILT reunion.
December 7th and 8th you have the chance to return to camp not only to see your camp friends but to hang out with your CILT counselors, make friends from the other two sessions, interview for Day Camp staff, try brand-new camp activities and experience your favorite traditions like devotions, songfest, baked oatmeal, and cheers.
We can't wait to see you!

December

I ran across the parking lot to hug Kelly Lindeen as soon as she got out of her car. She shrieked and jumped on me, dropping her pillow and sleeping bag on the snowy ground. "I'm so glad you're here," I yelled, "I thought you wouldn't make it." My face hurt from having a smile on my face for so long.

Last night a blizzard had blown across the Midwest and we feared that everyone would be snowed in at home. Crossing our fingers that the storm would pass, Sarah DeLong and I had set everything up in Lake Village- leaving devotion materials in Whitetail, setting up Survivor puzzles, skittles, and a tarp in Kampen, and testing the sound in the Sheu with an impromptu dance party. In the morning we fielded a dozen phone calls from parents asking about the state of the roads. "We understand if you can't make it," we told them, "but the roads over here are all clear now."

Now DeLong and I wait outside in the cold to greet campers as they spill out of their SUVs and mini-vans. The girls scream and run to friends from their session, attacking each other in a fit of hugs and continued screaming. There are no words to give justice to this type of excitement. Charlie and Matt get out of their car each wearing a neon full body snowsuit and carrying a plastic sled. Beanie pulls out a Ziploc bag of bracelets she has created from bending forks and gives them to everyone from her session. "This is better than Christmas!" Grace declared when she was reunited with her friends.

We gather in the fellowship room. There is an odd mix of awkwardness and familiarity. You know the people from your own session extremely well but the rest of these people are strangers. Around the circle we each share our name, school, and favorite memory from CILTs.

...

Our scheduled games and campfire over for the night, we turn music on over the Kampen speakers. Everyone dance. We make up motions to the lyrics, interpretive dance around the entire room, jump off the stage, and copy Jackie's unique moves. Sweatshirts are taken off and flung to the side of the room. Eric and Jordan stand on chairs simultaneously fist pumping and observing the campers. The girls have all put our hair up into pony-tails and we don't care that we are pitting out our t-shirts.

...

Much later that night we dim the overhead light in Whitetail to help the candles in the center of the room that are struggling to light the giant room. As each of us in this 40-person circle shares our high and low I feel the magnitude of this moment. I'm taken back to the night I've spent in Choctaw, Teton, and Mingo with these same girls. Over three years I've led over 100 devotions with these girls. I've played those conversations about their future, boys, friends, insecurities, faith, questions, passions, regrets, and thankfulness over and over in my head.  Now they are all here, their camp stories over-lapping, sitting together in this circle.

I catch the eye of a couple girls as I look around the group. Margaret has the biggest heart and is so motivated to be a counselor one day. Kelly Eaton is a genuine friend. I remember when she was so excited to have her friends Peggy, Chrissy, and Sarah come her second week as a Pathfinder. Mary has the best laugh. She and I are pen-pals and I love hearing about her life. Ellie is so full of optimism and hope. She once wrote a list of 1,000 things because of a devotion and sent the whole thing to us at camp. Logan is full of life and joy and potential and I love getting to sit and talk with her.

We talk late into the night. Even after praying together the conversations continued in hushed voices. Clusters of sleeping bags are laid around the room, their heads in the center of each star shape. I go from group to group wanting to spend time with each of them before I fall asleep. Most of them are struggling to keep their eyes open but not Jackie. She has tied the strings of her sleeping bag around her waist so it hangs like an over-size skirt. She stands over a trashcan with a stick and butter knife whittling away as she talks to her friends. At three in the morning this behavior doesn't seem strange. For Jackie, this behavior would be normal at any time of the day.

I set my alarm for 6:45 am. Breakfast isn't until 8 but a group of girls wants to walk to the Longhouse first. We will be exhausted, running on only a couple hours of sleep but we don't want to waste any of this invaluable time together.

...

We all slept through the alarm. I woke up at 7:52. "GIRLS! WAKE UP! WE'RE GOING TO BE LATE FOR BREAKFAST!" I yelled. I hit the lights, triggering groans from girls that hadn't slept much the night before. We quickly threw on sweatshirts from the night before, secured our messy hair on top of our heads in a messy ponytail and ran to the lodge where the boys were setting the tables.

...

Matt and Charlie convince everyone to go sledding even though they're the only ones with snowsuits and the hills are covered with ice instead of snow. We all watch from the top of the Bullet hill as CILTs take turns sliding down in a train gripping their friends' coats to help them stay together. Everyone screams as they go down the ice, flying over bumps of dirt and thorns. You have to bail off at the bottom to avoid ramming straight into the trees that line the edge of Ghost Creek.

...

I walked back to the lodge arm-in-arm with Kelly. "I've just really need this," she told me. "It puts everything into perspective. I just wish we had more time together." I'm thankful that this weekend happened. I'm thankful that today all of these kids got a break from everything going on at home. I'm thankful that we have a renewed focus for our faith and ourselves. I'm thankful that all of these CILTs have been able to spend time together in the middle of December being goofy and talking about what is important in life right now. I'm thankful that for 24 hours we got to come back to our favorite place on earth.

...

The next summer a handful of those CILTs joined the Day Camp staff. They were incredible counselors. They loved camp with such a passion that they wanted to give back by giving new campers the best week of their summer. I remember watching them with their own campers as they corralled kids, Grace dressed up as Hannah Montana for Gold Rush, Charlie gave piggy-back rides, and Chrissy walked holding hands with her tiny Blazers.

Many of the CILTs from that summer have stayed in touch through letters, Facebook messages, and texts. Some of them spent time their last few years of High School driving to see each other on weekends. They became friends in real life.  Now they're freshmen in college and a few of them are living with people they first met at camp.  These friendships have continued long after they left 12444 W Tecumseh Bend Rd.

As a counselor I want to teach my campers every week that what they have at camp should keep going. These friendships will take work because of distance but they can be some of your very best relationships. Your relationship with God will look different without chapel and devotions each day but you relationship with God can continue to grow. Being the best version of yourself is possible outside of camp but you must be intentional. Eventually your time at camp will come to an end but the impact it has had on your life will always be apparent.