Summer Camp

Growing up, I was not a camper. I think it was a combination of expense, disinterest, and "other agendas" that kept my parents from sending my brother and I off to camp. Not that we minded. I found the idea of leaving home for a day-- or a week or two-- I found the thought totally threatening. Why go off and spend time eating crappy food, sleeping in crappy beds and using crappy bathrooms when I could just hang out at home with Dan? We could swim and ride bikes and do our paper routes. Who needs camp?

So here I am Sunday, driving out in the middle of nowhere so Tam and I can check out a possible summertime day camp for Evan. He's just turned 5 but friends say the Y camp is fantastic. So, off we go with Evan to check it out.

Over the river and through the woods and down the long dirt road. There's the driveway, complete with stone columns and log archway, "Camp Shiawassee" the sign reads. If it were an overnight camp I'd be inclined to name it "Camp Stephen King." The dining area was a rustic covered slab of picnic tables. The bathrooms? In that building "over there." So far it was pretty much living up to my uninformed expectation. (Although I do remember taking Kels to a Girl Scout camp years ago that was equally rustic. And she had to spend the night!)

Then we met Shane and Mitchell.These guys were obviously professional campers. In an instant they realized it was about Ev, not Mom and Dad. Off we went. Ev was impressed although visibly reluctant when shown the 50 foot climbing wall. But as we journeyed on from activity area to activity area these guys got him more and more engaged. A balancing cable, balance beams, tire swings to navigate. Slowly but surely they got him involved and engaged his confidence. I would have to say that, by the time he took his second trip across the 250 foot zip line, they had pretty much succeeded. (Although Mom did have to do a demonstration run. Had to.)

By the time we left I knew what I had missed. Although he's only 5, Ev is going to camp this summer and he can't wait. What he'll be bringing home will be confidence, strength, self-reliance, team ability, and a widened sense of self and capacity in the world. That, and hopefully a whole lot of really great memories. Something I would know nothing about.