Ch 25

A camp story

Many, many moons ago there was a counselor named Roger Murphy. He built the Suspension Bridge with a box of toothpicks and a spool of dental floss. A camper once lost a contact going off of the rope swing. Roger Murphy jumped in, found the contact, and caught a fish with his bare hands. He didn't ride the zip line in a harness, he rode on top of it on a unicycle. And every morning before breakfast he would swim across the Richard G. Marsh Lake; the butterfly stroke on the way out and breaststroke on the way back.

After a decade of counseling greatness, Roger Murphy moved on to build houses for orphans, teach dogs to speak English, and to mentor a young boy named Chuck Norris. Everyone at Camp Tecumseh was saddened that his time with us had come to end; we wanted to make sure he would never be forgotten. To honor his time at camp, we began to swim across the lake on Friday mornings before breakfast just like Roger Murphy had always done. Campers that complete the challenge receive a purple swim band; coveted over the regular blue, yellow, and red bracelets.

My alarm beeped at 6:15 am. I was tempted to hit the snooze button but I rolled out of bed. I made my way around the cabin, tapping girls on the shoulder and whispering, "Wake up, it's time to go swim." Rubbing the sleep out of their eyes, they climbed down from their bunks in the dark. We silently got ready in our swimsuits and pulled a sweatshirt on top to fight the cold of the morning. Just a few minutes later we all went out to the porch together and shut the door behind us quietly so our cabin mates could keep sleeping.

Our flip-flops slapped the black pavement on our way down the lake road. A thick layer of fog blanketed the lake and the sun was just beginning to rise behind us. The girls walked quietly, too tired for conversation. When we got to the beachfront the girls found a spot on the hill to sit while I unlocked the boathouse. I found the sign-in clipboard and took my station on the steps. As more campers showed up I wrote down their name and cabin on my list. 15 campers, then 30, then 53, then 62 were on the list and waiting on the hill.

By now it was 6:45 and time to get swimming if we were going to get to breakfast on time. Fitzie, the lifeguard in charge of the Roger Murphy challenge, explained the event to the campers on the hill and then released them to get life jackets. Leaving their towels and sweatshirts behind, the kids stampeded to get a bright red and yellow life jacket. Once they had all three buckles snapped and the straps pulled tight everyone lined up along the edge of the beach.

Fitzie and a couple other counselors had paddled out lifeguard boats into the lake. I took my spot on the dock as a watcher. Sarah, one of my campers, stood with me as my "Assistant Lifeguard" for the morning. Once everyone was in place, I blew my whistle. All of the campers ran into the water creating a tsunami of splashing. They belly-flopped once the water was too deep to run and started paddling.

Sarah and I cheered from the end of the dock as campers swam past, "Go Teton! Go Paige! Yeah Gerard! Swim Kelly!" The ones in the lead were serious, taking breaths every few arm strokes. They wanted to win the Roger Murphy Challenge. Then came swimmers that were kicking hard and talking with their cabin mates. The Teton girls passed by singing songs and laughing. Some of them swam on their backs and others tried to latch on to their friends so they could be tugged along. Sarah could have been sleeping back in the cabin, but I'm glad she chose to stand with me and keep me company. Everyone was having fun swimming, but Sarah and I were glad we weren't swimming in the cold water.

The campers all swam past the giant trampolines, past the rope swing dock and under the suspension bridge that spans the middle of the lake. They disappeared from view and the sound of their splashing got quieter. The Roger Murphy swimmers had to swim all the way to the far side of the lake and touch the wooden dock at The Leadership Center before turning around. The water is shallow on that far side and the lake bottom is  murky, mossy, squishiness. You have to be intentional about not touching the bottom.

Sarah spots the first camper making their way back to us. Ellie is swimming at a speed that would impress even Roger Murphy. The next two kids are neck-and-neck, fighting for second place. Sarah and I yell and cheer them on as they make the final turn and stroke until they can run up on the beach. It takes about twenty more minutes before everyone finishes. I cross names off of the long list as people finish the challenge and hand them a purple Roger Murphy swim band that they quickly snap on their wrist. The Teton girls finish still singing and holding Gerard X, our cabin mascot, high in the air. Gerard gets a purple swim band too.

7:25 when I cross off the last name, I hurry to lock the boathouse back up. "Let's go girls! The hopper bell is in twenty minutes." We run back up the lake road, our feet sliding in wet, sandy flip-flops, and our towels and sweatshirts, now soaking wet, wrapped around us. These girls had already swam across the lake and back but the rest of camp was just beginning their day.