Thursday, June 26, 2014

Throwback Thursday Summer Camp Style

I'm busy. Always it seems, and I accept that. 'Tis a season, and when this season ends there will be another season, because that's how mid-life goes. Not at all how I imagined it would be, but life is full of surprises and I mostly like surprises.

Anyway I have a lot on my plate today, so in the interest of time, I thought I'd join the Throwback Thursday Revolution and post something light.


That's me on the right, wearing braids and a blindfold and brushing someone else's teeth. Good Morning Campers!

They know who they are. They read here.

This weekend I'm headed back to camp. The place I spent many a summer first as a camper, later as a CIT, and then eventually a counselor. We used to on occasion have something called a counselor hunt, which was essentially a ginormous game of hide and seek. The way it worked was the counselors would hide from the kids and the kids would try to find them.  Relax...we weren't hiding to get away from the kids, we were hiding to avoid being caught, because if you were caught there was a penalty.

I was never ever caught. I had a most stellar hiding place and at age 18 was not afraid to squeeze myself under a building to avoid capture. Some counselors were always caught. Some didn't try very hard to hide, especially if they were with the younger campers, because they knew how much the kids loved finding their 'chief'.

Me, well my campers were teenagers, and I was all about not being caught. What can I say? I've always been competitive and teenagers love a challenge.

They never ever caught me.

Okay, I was caught once along with another counselor, and the picture above was our 'penalty'. We had to stand on a table in front of the group, I was blindfolded, and had to brush the other girls teeth.

I admit as a mother my first thought now is more along the lines of ewwwww, and picturing myself lying in the dirt under that building with all the creepy crawlies kinda makes my skin crawl, but...this is why camp is so awesome.

You do things like crawl in the dirt beneath a building and stand blindfolded on a table with a toothbrush in hand while campers cheer you on. You laugh and smile every single day, not because you're brushing someone else's teeth, but because you're just ridiculously happy to be in a place where you can spend your days outdoors, share life with friends, sleep under the stars, talk about the deep and not so deep, swim-sail-ride and pray.

Christian camp for kids and teens, and for the mostly college aged people who work there, can be life changing. For me it still is. We started these reunion weekends in the summer of 2010, and imagined they might happen every few years. As it happened though, that first one was so much fun we've made it an annual thing. It's a weekend I look forward to, and one I now view as a retreat. A time and place to reconnect not only with the people who knew me when, but also with myself.

Some of the buildings have moved and changed, and it all looks a little bit different not different. It's still the best place I know to sit in the middle of God's glorious creation and remember His goodness all those years ago.

...and His goodness still.

8 comments:

  1. It's a wonderful place to retreat to. I dare you to pack a blindfold, new toothbrush, and re-create the memory with one of your middle-aged friends there. :) DARE YA!

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  2. Sounds wonderful, have a good trip! Hopefully you will only have to brush your OWN teeth this time!

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  3. Some of my best memories were from my Christian summer camp. Looks like you guys were just as goofy as we were!

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  4. Enjoy your time at camp. I can't wait to hear all about it when you get back.

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  5. Have a great time! Don't forget your toothbrush. :)

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  6. I never went to camp as a kid. However, my husband and my girls did. They all loved it. I did work as a counselor once. The year before my hubby and I married he was in charge of the senior high camp that year. At the last minute they were short a counselor, so I agreed to stay and be a counselor for a cabin full of girls. I was a little nervous, since I didn't know exactly what I was getting in to. But it was fun and I had a great group of girls.

    Hope you have a great reunion.

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  7. Excellent photo and TBT story!! I never went to a Christian camp, but our band camp was at the Methodist Church campgrounds. Hadn't thought about that for years. I loved band camp. Thanks for taking me back, too!

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  8. I enjoyed reading this light-hearted post.

    Yes, God is still good :)
    He is repairing my marriage.

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