Camp Memories

I just got back from spending all of last week up at camp and had a great time. Our camp has been in transition for many years and it was great to be back up at TaTa Pochon, the place where I began my camp journey 10 years ago. I wasn't sure that the week was going to work out but after a series of hiccups me and 90 kids, 24 counselors and 2 dogs found ourselves in Big Bear. One of the best parts of camp this year is that I was able to bring Jack and Charlie to enjoy the week with me.

Camp was filled with great kids from all over the LA area and a few from Orange County. My favorite group was the smallest kids who are all so very cute and full of energy. When I was at flagpole getting the kids ready for lunchtime two 7 year old girls came up to me and said, "Stacy, are you married because you are so beautiful!" Now, if that isn't the sweetest thing I have ever heard in the entire world...after I said I wasn't they continued, "Well, do you have a boyfriend?" I shook my head, no. "Well then we will find you one because it is not possible for someone like you not to have one." I laughed and they then proceeded to point out all the guys at camp asking, "What about him...or him...or maybe him he's cute." Never mind the fact that every guy they picked out was barely over the age of 18, I guess that goes to show that when you are 7 years old someone older than you is just older than you. And someone 30 matched with someone who is 18 isn't quite a match made in heaven but nonetheless I appreciated their effort and concern for my relationship status.
Jack and Charlie surprised me greatly. You have to understand that Jack tends to listen pretty well since he is 10 years old, Charlie however is a firecracker and when he is free he tends to have A.D.D. in full force. On the first day at camp I kept the both of them on a leash at all times, convinced that if they were let off the leash they would find a squirrel to chase deep into the woods and I would never see them again. On the second day I let them off the leash while I was in the cabin and tried my luck. To my absolute surprise not only did they not run off, the stayed on the cabin porch and quietly stood there as all the campers walked by them. From that moment on they were free to roam camp as they pleased going from camper to camper to get scratched and get affection. They even got to cuddle with Evelyn in the morning on her bunk.
By the time we got home Jack and Charlie were dirty as ever, tired like they've never been and most importantly VERY VERY HAPPY!
The week of camp is filled with a lot of fun activities and themes throughout the week. Some of the themes we had up at camp included a Crazy Hat lunch, Pajama breakfast, Baby Lunch and a Birthday dinner.Down the mountain at home, there are things many of us take for granted. A warm shower is one of those things. Showers at camp are rare and when you can steal a minute to take one you consider yourself blessed. I came to the Birthday Dinner all freshly rested and super clean from a shower. I even had some time to wash my hair and it was feeling wonderful and dirt free. The Birthday Dinner is a fun time where each kid sits at the table marked with their birthday month and at each table there is a special birthday cake for everyone. After the main dinner was over I walked around the dining hall to pass around knives to cut their cakes with. Unbeknowst to me Louie, the camp cook was plotting to smash a cake in Chris, a counselor's face since it was his birthday the following day. As I got to the last table to hand them their knife, which was coincidentally right next to Chris, Louie smashed a cake full force into the side of Chris' head and the shrapnel of the frosting and cake fluff hit me...I had half a cake in my newly washed hair and all over my clean clothes...but the good part of the story is that for the first time in 10 years I took 2 showers in one day at camp!To understand how important camp is to me I have to tell you about the Raggers program. The Raggers program is a symbolic very meaningful program that encourages youth and adults alike to set challenges for themselves and work towards those challenges throughout their lives. There are multiple colors of Rags with each one representing a different challenge. I happen to be on my Red Rag which I got last year. The Red Rag symbolizes Sacrifice and for my challenge I set the goal of getting our core group to go back up to TaTa Pochon, the camp that me and all the counselors I have been going up to camp with for many years began at. We haven't been to TaTa Pochon since 2004, when the YMCA of Orange County cut the camp from their week offering. We then found ourselves at other camps each summer but missed TaTa tremendously. I don't know how many more years of camp I have left in me but I knew that it was very important for me to try and make going back to TaTa a reality for our group.
The picture above is of Chris and Daniel, two counselors who have been going to Y Camp with me for ten years and were even going to Y Camp before I ever even knew it existed. Chris and Daniel started going to TaTa when they were at Brywood Elementary School. They are now both in college and still coming to camp. These two guys are amazing and I was so happy to be a small part in making the week possible for them. I went up to camp saying that this was my last year, that I needed to close this chapter of my life and begin taking a week off of work to take a "real vacation" instead of using it to go up to camp every year. But after the campfires, the laughs, the meals, the chapel's...the kids....I can't say that I won't be going up next year to my camp home and to my camp family. It's just too hard to let go of and still very much a part of me. When I am at camp I feel like I am living my truth, I feel like I am at my best. My smiles are genuine and I feel them in every part of me, my heart is open and I feel like the world makes so much more sense up there. Camp is a place where every day you feel loved and appreciated by everyone and I am not sure that I'm ready to let that go just yet.

I needed camp more than ever this year...at a time when so much love has been taken away from me I needed to go to a place that I could depend on making me feel better and making me feel special. Camp has always been there for me and for now, I am there for camp.