Weird...

...Pre Camp started yesterday at camp. This is the first summer in 6 years that I haven't been there and the first summer in 15 that I haven't gone to camp for even a week! SO STRANGE. But so funny: every pre camp for the last 6 years, it has rained on the first night. And, sure enough, it rained last night! Ha ha. Isn't that weird??

Anyway, since I'm feeling nostalgic, I thought I'd give people a peek into my past: as "Baby Speckles!" It's always fun looking at old pictures, right?? Here we go:

This is literally the only picture I have from my first year at camp. 1994. I was eight and it was probably the only year I ever got homesick. I rememberr idolizing our live-in Esther and searching for my counselor Finn's real name in her shirt -- while she was wearing it. I'm wearing the dark blue Atlanta shirt in the middle. I think the other two girls were the girls in my cabin w/ me.


These are the cabins that we stayed in in '94 and '95. It's where the littlest girls stay every time because they're small and more enclosed than a tent, so the girls don't get so scared. I wrote many letters and played many card games during Siesta on that balcony.


This was taken by my dad in '96 when he dropped me off at camp. It was the first summer after my parents split up, and camp really gave me a chance to let go and be myself for the first time in a few months. I loved camp before, but this is probably the first year that I realized it's true value in my life. My devotion to it basically exploded this year. (And yes, I'm wearing a sundress... probably w/ shorts underneath. And yes, I realize NOW how goofy that was, but trust me, I was not the first, nor was I the last to wear a dress/skirt on the first day.)


1997 was the first year I was called Speckles and it stuck for the next 11 summers. My tentmates and I became great friends, and one of them was even a CIT with me the first year. I made my first deaf friend that summer and I wish we hadn't fallen out of touch 'cause she was so sweet. (And the Troll bedding on the right? My bed. Yeah, you're jealous.)


1998 was my first time going for 2 weeks and it was the only year that I ever wasn't truly myself. My tentmates were 3 years older than me and thought my taste in music was immature, so, among other things, I totally lied about it all. (The music I liked? Spice Girls and Britney Spears. I have since seen the light, trust me.)

In 1999, I reunited with my best friend. She had gone with me in 1995 (she's on the balcony) but we hadn't been able to coordinate summer schedules the following summer so we went separately (and she met Starla, her buddy the following 2 years... I was so jealous!). Anyway, in '99 we were some of the oldest in the unit and it was the year that I realized I wanted to work there. It's also the first year I have any recollection of the CITs. And they were cool. Real cool.


In 2001, I was a Counselor-in-Training for the first year. There were 12 of us and we had so much fun! I went for 2 two week sessions because the CIT program is for 4 weeks one summer and 4 weeks the following summer. (Oh, and fun note, my CIT Director is now a meteorologist for Channel 2.) That summer I made amazing friends, many of whom I'm still close with today. And my best friend was a CIT, along with the girl I was way jealous of. The first picture is of the whole group. Of that 12, only 6 of us returned the following summer for CIT 2. The second shot is of my and my best friend's new friend. (This past summer we had a talk about that whole situation adn how I was so jealous of her. Turned out she was jealous of me, too, since H always talked about me!) We're total opposites, but we got along real well.



2002 was CIT 2 year. This year is always hard for the CIT 2's because it's essentially our (their) last year as campers. They learn so much about how camp runs that there isn't really any going back. You also have to say goodbye to the girls you've lived with for the last 8 weeks -- laughing, crying, goofing off, singing, planning pranks and campfires. It was bittersweet but so much fun. The first shot is one of us in the brand new shower house. We also had 2 Lifeguards in Training with us for two weeks. The second session, only one returned. The second photo was on the last morning. We had moved ALL of the tables and chairs out of the dining hall for breakfast and it was a breakfast to remember. (The following year, meals were changed to cafeteria style, and the sessions ended on Fridays, so this truly was a unique breakfast.)




Have I bored you yet? If you hung int here with me, thanks for letting me reminicse! I'll put in another post of my 6 years as staff soon.