Saturday, April 14, 2012

"What's a weakness? Is that like something you do on the weekends?"

Sarah: You know when people say, "If you could go back to any day what would it be?" I would put this one on the list of ones to revisit. Today was one of those days with people I love. There was no special itinerary or big to-do, just all of us living life together. I love that.


Mags: We hugged and took pictures for the first ten minutes of togetherness, then piled in the car and sang our way to Mellow Mushroom for pizza. I love the feeling of being around people who care about you no matter what, people who give you their unconditional friendship. Today was filled with those people and that friendship.


Michelle: I love that we can sing at the top of our lungs, say what we're feeling in that exact moment, and just be ourselves around each other.  Some of us haven't met before, but that didn't matter, because within a matter of minutes it's as if we had known each other for so long.  Being with these people brings bits and pieces of camp into everyday life, that's my favorite part.



Molly: Days like this one are both rare and normal in the same instance. We get to do normal things with people we rarely see in everyday life. That's just so cool to me- a normal day feeling so special because of the people you're doing those normal things with. We sat around a long table at Mellow Mushroom sharing jokes and making really tall straw towers and going around answering the meal question. Camp dinners are the best dinners.


Annie: Being surrounded by people that make me laugh is one of my very favorite things. I love these moments. These belly aching, laugh-so-hard-till-you-cry, everything is funny kind of moments. I love that something so simple as a dinner with friends can turn into a Harry Potter, wand waving, spell casting party.


Sarah: I got to share today with kids of all generations. Emily, Mags, David, Coll, Molly and Annie were CILTs in 2010. Sarah, Michelle and Allie CILTed last summer and Olivia is counting down the days till her Session begins. I love hearing their accounts of their camper days--when they were in a Warrior cabin together years ago or stories of signing up to take martial arts with Dave and Evan or when everyone thought Emily and Avery were really mean as Pathfinders but actually they're two of the nicest, funniest girls we know.


Being able to continually be a part of their lives, continue being a counselor all year long, to keep living the dream of camp for all of these years is the biggest blessing...


These kids are the best. I think everyone at Mellow wished they could have been sitting at our table.


 Mags: One of my favorite parts of these mini camp reunions is that the excitement never fades. People continue to say things like, "I'm so glad we're together in real life" or "You're here!" over and over throughout the night. We just can't get over the fact that we get to play together for a whole night without having to check back in to camp or get to bed early because we have morning bus duty or get off of Skype because we have a test the next day. We just get to be.



 Michelle: We got to eat frozen yogurt at Orange Leaf and all smooshed onto a couch and talked like we were the best of friends and that this was a normal thing.  We took more pictures, told stories, quoted Hunger Games and listened to Annie try to talk in her British accent. Even though it was getting late, the night was only half over.



Molly: We got back to Sar's and then came the moment we had waited our whole lives for: Tahitian Treat. Annie has been searching for that stuff for months and she finally found it right here in Indianapolis. She poured us all cups and we sat in a circle to try "the nectar of the goddesses". After Annie's never ending, British accent, girl scout inspired toast we all tried our first sip. There were mixed reviews on the taste but we were all in agreement of loving the hyper-feeling side effect. Shortly after Col Kel and Rach joined the party. They are really great. One of my favorite things about camp is that age doesn't define friendship. Tonight we sat on the floor in a circle with people in all different stages of life and just talked and laughed and made lists and loved each other. 

 
Annie:...... This is where Annie would be writing something nice, thought-provoking, sentimental and kind about being friends and doing normal things together and loving life. But she's asleep. So we're skipping her.


Sarah: Here's to singing and dancing in the car, laughing with friends you hope to know forever, celebrating the little things, spreading joy to people around you, making relationships a priority, eating our favorite foods, continuing traditions and living the dream.

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