Camp Tecumseh In The City #reunions

When I was a CILT in 2003 I became friends with Meg Wright, Sarah Drumgould and Colleen Callaghan. After our two weeks in the Longhouse finished we stayed in touch and they were some of my best friends. That school year my parents let me drive up to Chicago to visit them for a couple days so my camp friends could be my real life friends. That trip was the first of many to visit camp friends in Chicago. 

At least once a year since then, I've made the drive up from Indiana to visit my fellow Day Camp counselors, Teton girls, res counselors and then CILTs for the last several years. Dozens of the main characters of my life are all from Western Springs, La Grange, Hinsdale, the city, Naperville and Elmhurst. Spending time with all of them is one of my favorite things. 

Right now there are a ton of camp friends in the Chicago that are great friends of mine. Somehow this weekend worked out perfectly--everyone was in town. When I got here on Friday I met up with Nina and Kat right away and went to dinner with more friends that met us there. I got to see the oldest girls (Kat, Emily, Nina, Chachi, Grace and Ella),  the two CILT girls (Gaby and Brenna) and a Torchbearer who will be a CILT next summer (Bridget) all came to dinner. 

I loved having all of these friends together at once and just getting to hang out and live life together. At camp we eat dinner in the dining hall with our cabin and then head off to that night's activities. Here we get to sit and eat Chipotle, talk in the parking lot, go get ice cream and do whatever because there is no schedule. It's fun having the chance to do that with these people.

Saturday morning I said good bye to Nina, Kat, Bridget and Mia before heading off to the next stop on my adventure. I laughed so much with this group of friends and I'm so thankful for their joy, quirkiness and how much they care about each other. Kat has become one of my closest friends and I'm thankful that our lives have overlapped so much in the past year. I can't imagine not knowing her.

Next I got to meet up with the one and only Olivia Kinsella. I've known her since she was 8 but we didn't really become friends until she was a CILT in Session 1 this past summer. We went to breakfast at Egg Harbor-- partly because it's delicious and partly because that's where Shauna Niequist would go to breakfast with her puppies when she visited them in Chicago.

I love this girl so much--her genuine heart, compassion for others, silliness, loyalty, excitement that shines out of her and her huge capacity to love people. We talk all the time, but it was fun to get to talk in real life again so I could hear her voice and see her facial expressions. Kinsella is the funniest with her M & M pancakes. She was also the perfect detective partner as we tracked down Sydney Sabbagha's house to surprise her--unfortunately she wasn't at home. I drove Olivia back into the city to drop her off at home and the worst part was saying bye. I wish I could see her so much more often.

Next up was Shannon Flynn's house in the city. Erin, Gaby and I loved the sidewalk chalk that greeted us, "You guys rock! Welcome pals! I love this day! WOW. Fun is waiting!" and drawings of Annabelle, Best Friend necklaces and Penelope.

Inside we reunited with Shanztherapper, Cara, Tara and Brenna. When all of these girls became great friends during CILTs (along with a few other girls who couldn't be here) I couldn't believe that they were all from Chicago. It's rare that this many friends would all be from the same place and I knew that I would have to make a trip to visit them all.

We did so many fun things with this crew today. We played extreme spoons and had to dive into the couch cushions, pushing past one another and crawling through them to find a spoon each round. Annabelle helped us make Best Friend Necklaces--they were exclusive to counselors at camp but now everyone is making them. We worked on bracelets, told stories, took pictures on the roof and made a trip to Whole Foods to try every free sample and get pizza ingredients.

I love when I get to see old CILTs during the year--it's kind of like I'm a counselor again, kind of like I'm hanging out with my little sisters or younger friends. We were talking about how difficult it is to explain CILTs to other people--you can tell them about what you do during the day, show them pictures, maybe even introduce them to your friends-- but they'll never really get it. CILTs is the most unique and influential program I've ever been a part of. I keep going back year after year because I see how it changes people and makes them grow.

Thanks to CILTs, both when I was a camper and a counselor, I've grown for the better and made some of the best friends of my life. This summer Cara, Tara, Shannon, Brenna, Gaby and Erin are some of the kids that changed my heart and I won't forget them. I love getting to work with people this age--they're pretty fantastic.

I've got memories at camp with every CILT kid, and this weekend we reminisced about so many stories. Shanztherapper's monograms, dance moves, peeing-her-pants and heart to hearts after devotions. Brenna eating a lightning bug in main field, not letting her boot hold her back and playing with Oneida and Catawba.

Gaby always getting the best seat on my bunk for watching the blog, sharing Penelope and hanging out on the stayover weekend. Erin's white tongue and the trip in the mini, taking a walk to Lake Village, accidentally breaking Annabelle's hand and talking during night chapel.

Cara rocking at RFAJWD, blowing bubbles in Main Field and always being someone I can count on to be so helpful and on top of things. Tara not being afraid to speak up, being in my canoe on the float trip and the runaway goat following us back home across Main Field.

Sunday afternoon I got to reunite with my girls Kelly and Maggie, the last two Session 3 CILTs I'd get to see on this trip. They were both busy earlier this weekend so we couldn't hang out until today. Maggie's family moved this past week so Kelly and I got a tour of their new house. We adventured up to the tree house even though it was a little risky. We jumped on the trampoline and ended up just sitting and talking after about a minute.

"I love that this just feels so normal," Maggie said. "Like we're not doing anything really special, it's just like we hang out on a regular basis." I love friendships that work like that. We haven't seen one another in over a month but it doesn't feel like we're strangers at all. Today we just did normal things-- driving in Kelly's car, making a lap in Target to find fun things, lunch at Portillo's and talking about life.

I'm such a huge fan of these two girls and so glad that we're friends. I'm confident that we'll all be friends for many years to come. I'm jealous that they live so close and can hang out more often. Maybe I'll just have to visit again.

This weekend was awesome. I'm so thankful for all of the friends I got to see-- 17 of them in one weekend. Getting to see camp friends is one of my favorite things and it made my heart so full. Here's to camp friends, living real life together, adventures and making new memories.