Welcome to another entry in my "Get to Know Me" series.

Today I'm going to take you back to the summer of 2005

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After working at the same job for over 7 years I was ready for something different in my life. I wasn't sure what direction I was going to head off to, but I knew for sure that I couldn't stay on the same path I was walking at the time. It was time for a change. Not being sure what that change would look like I started looking for other jobs. I wanted something seasonal that would get me away from my current environment for a bit and also not be long term.

I had a good friend that I knew who had worked at a summer camp every year while in college. She loved the experience and suggested I look into it. It sounded exactly like what I needed. I had actually spent a couple of weeks at a summer camp as a kid and had loved my time there. I figured this would be a great way to give back and try to return the gift I was given by helping others create similar memories.

So I put in my notice that I was quitting and started preparing for the next stage in my life. It was a complete rush of all kinds of emotions but at my core there was excitement. I was ready for this and it was exactly what I needed in my life.

The camp that ended up bringing me on was called Camp Twin Creeks. It's a gorgeous camp located in a beautiful corner of West Virginia. Kids come from all over to stay for a couple weeks and participate in all of the joys of camp life. The cool thing about Camp Twin Creeks is that it's a very international camp. While most of the kids are fromm the US. We'd get counselors from all over the world. It brought a very cool cultural aspect to the camp that made the whole experience that much more enjoyable.

Ahh, yes, Camp Life

Now, if you've never been to camp, it's pretty much like a fun version of school. When you first arrive at camp you get assigned to a bunk with other kids your age. Each bunk then has a couple of counselors assigned to watch over the kids and help them have the best time possible. There are tons of different activities that happen all day long and you move around to each thoughout the day in a schedule, just like you would at school. These classes are far more exciting though. We're talking archery, rock climbing, swimming, soccer, baseball, ziplining, arts & crafts, theater, etc.. If it's fun, it's at camp.

Being one of the older counselors in camp (typical age of counselors is 19-25) I was assigned to a bunk with the older boys usually between 11 and 13. I never would've thought I'd be a good fit for that age group, but I had such a blast with all the boys that came through my cabin and helped shape my summer and experience.

I was a little anxious about the job, after all, I hadn't really been around kids all that much and wasn't sure how well I'd do. Turns out I ended up learning just as much from them as they hopefully learned from me.

@raised2b (on the left in the green shirt with hat) and his bunk

Getting into the Day to Day

There is, of course, a huge difference when you're experiencing camp as an adult vs a child. Working at a camp takes a lot of commitment, compassion, patience and energy. My day started at 7:15am every morning. If you want, you can sleep in till 7:30am, but then you would miss your morning pool dip. Yes, that's right, if you get up and jump in a cold pool every morning you'll earn the fine distinction of being a member of the Polar Bear Club. I'm now officially a member, many times over. It definitely is a hit and miss proposition for the kids, but the ones that take to it, love it. Fortunately, there's always hot chocolate and a towel waiting when you get out!

After that we go for some breakfast and the day unfolds from there. Going from activity to activity, stopping for lunch and then continuing to the end of the day and dinner. After dinner we'd have an evening activity where all the bunks get together for something fun. It's the time of day when all the kids get to socialize and interact with all the other bunks. This means the girls and boys get to mingle. I don't think I've ever seen anything so funny. The girls of course will get all primped up for the occassion and the boys will pretend they don't care and play it cool, but I'll tell you what, they loved it. Thank god they did too, it was pretty much the only card I had to play if they were getting out of hand and needed to be reeled back in. Just the threat of me keeping them at the cabin for evening activity would straighten them up real quick!

Evening activity usually winds up around 10pm, then it's back to the bunk to get ready for bed and do it all over again. That's right, counselors are working from the time they get up to the time they go to bed. They are really long days and it goes on for months. We do get an hour break during the day to have to ourselves, but for the most part, you are going non stop. I didn't really realize how draining it was until the end of summer when we closed everything up and said our goodbyes. At that point I was just completely drained, but in a way that felt amazing, I had just poured myself into something that was meaningful and impactful to so many lives, including mine.

Bunk Life - They decided it'd be fun to put my clothes on and act cool. They pulled it off better than I ever do!

The #1 Camp Activity (You'll never guess)

Anyway back to camp. Now, if there is one thing that trumps all activities in camp, it's gossiping! Everyone at camp is talking about everyone else. At camp, you're in your own little micro world. Everyone eats together, plays together, sleeps together, and because we're human, everyone wants to know what's going on with everyone else. Of course, the kids want to know which counselors are dating and who likes who. It's a non stop game for them. As far as us counselors go, we keep each other in the loop on all the kid drama and goings on. Honestly, I've never been one for gossip, but I look back on that experience and smile. It was such a telling story of our species and how we interact and socialize at all stages of our life. How we form bonds, trust, relationships and how we find the joy in the thousands of little steps along the path to each of those. Camp isn't all rainbows and butterflies. There's a lot of tears, heartache, pain, loneliness, and all the other human emotions in there too. But those things are just as much a part of what makes camp great as everything else. It's real. It's life. It's shared.

Keeping It Real

Outside of the normal camp routines we'd occasionally have special days where we'd take trips away from camp. Either to go water skiing on the lake or for an overnight hike in the woods. We'd encounter snakes and other wildlife, have hot dog eating contests, tell stories by the fire, play games, read from the zombie apocalypse survival guide and of course sing songs. That was another thing that I realized was missing back in my normal life. In camp you sing a lot. It's strange when you're not used to it, but it soon becomes normal and it's another one of those things that binds people together that you don't really realize is missing in the world today until you experience it.

Change Over and Days Off

Every two weeks when a session was up we had change over. It's during these times that we counselors got to get away for a bit and refresh as best we could. When I say refresh I mean, head out to somewhere beautiful, rent an expensive cabin for 15+ of us and drink until craziness ensued. I wasn't much of a drinker and was older than most, but it was still always a good time and nice to just get away from camp even if just for a couple days.

We'd go see movies, go shopping, indulge in non camp food. The simplest things were godsends and pleasures to be enjoyed! We also got to take in small West Virginian towns and culture and enjoy summer in the country. Of course there was a lot of drama thrown in there as well, but you forge bonds with people so quickly when you live, work and play together. It's still pretty amazing to me when I think back and realize how close you can get to people in such a short time. It makes me think that it must resemble what life was like for our ancestors when they traveled in small tribes together, relying on each other for everything the community needed.

I'm going to finish this post off with some pictures from that summer. Heartbreakingly, my camera was stolen the day before I left camp and all the pictures of that time with it. It was absolutely gut wrenching. Friends were able to send me some of their pictures so I do have a few but thankfully the important memories will always be with me because it's the experience itself that was so amazing. If you ever have a chance in life to maybe partake in that world in some way I'd encourage you to do it, it's an incredible amount of work but it's also incredibly rewarding.

Final Thoughts

My experience over that summer was life changing. It was living simply and participating in a community at the base level. It was a bunch of strangers of all ages coming together, sharing themselves with everyone and impacting everyone at the same time. It was beautiful, messy, full of joy, tears, sweat and growth. In short, it was life. I will always be grateful that my path in life headed to West Virginia for that summer and will never forget the people and experiences I was lucky enough to be a part of.

Images from: Freepik
and Camp Twin Creeks

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Some of my other recent posts:

Get to Know Me - I can't wait...	Get Inspired - A Different Approach to Education	How I Create Passwords That are Memorable but Extremely Secure

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