FYI: you wont get a majority of this is you weren't a camp counselor.. but you most likely will appreciate the story..
One night in the winter of 2005 I researched some summer jobs that involved something with horses and I stumbled upon being a camp counselor.. applied.. and got the job.
Best decision of my life.
In the three summers I was a camp counselor I have met people from all over the world, impacted numerous young minds and had amazing summers free of alcohol as a tool of fun. People who decide to become a camp counselor are a breed of their own. We are usually outgoing, well traveled, happy souls who loves kids. To be surrounded by people of this type for summer at a time is just what the heart needs. I have learned so much about myself and life for that matter by such an under-rated summer job. I realize that doing something for others is most rewarding, that when I show love and respect to a child, their trust and admiration is more genuine because of there innocence. To this day I keep in touch with almost everyone I was close to from every year of camp. It's such a special friendship, most of my camp
friends being from different countrys, time differences and long distance charges keep us from being up to date on every aspect of each others lives, but still after 6 months to even a year of not talking, if someone is in town, they are as good as family. I guess we understand each other on a different level. No one else understands what "purple" really means, the words to the moose song, creativity of the use of duck tape or the value of sharpy's. living in close quarters is on a different level and so is being dirty. The appreciation of a good meal and coffee for that matter humbles us. Camp is like a bubble, 140 camp counselors, eating, sleeping, working and playing with in a few square miles, you become closer to someone a lot faster then any other situation. We all are here for the same reason, doing the same thing, all from different places in the world and all we have is each other.
We wake up at 6am, go to staff meeting, half awake listen to the weather for that day and things to be aware of. We Laugh at silly praises such as bobby saving me from burning down the dining hall and rolling our eyes when Kari asks for another prayer for her mom's cousin's friend's dog. The specialty staff heads down to the barn, ropes course or waterfront to prepare for the day while the cabin counselors somehow find a genuine love for flag pole every morning and turn their kids into superheros or pirates using beach towels and face paint. Meals are always interesting, 600 people in one building, eating at the same time, not to mention singing is almost equivalent to a cup of coffee, almost. My days at camp usually consisted of teaching fitness, spicing
it up with Ben or Brandi with some neon spandex and dancing our way into "x-treme fitness". Followed by convincing my little JV campers how to ride a horse and that the horse isn't going to bit them, kick them, run off or flat out not like them. After I put our petrified 8 year old on our close to dead horse (M&M) that barely walks, she feels more comfortable and is happy as a calm at the end of the lesson, thinking she rode a horse when really M&M is a 35 year old horse that wants nothing more then to walk in a circle and never go any faster. The rest of the day is usually at the barn, cleaning stalls, teaching lessons, leading trail rides and riding horses that need a talking to. Evening programs are the best part of the day, night time brings cool weather and this is when the kids go crazy. Capture the flag, dances, staff basketball games, skits or the weekly dance party. When evening programs are over we head back to our cabins, brushing teeth and putting on PJ's seems to be rocket science with older girls when all they want to do is talk about boys, eat candy and sit in everyones bed accept their own. Most of the time they manage to figure it out, and we finish the day with "happys and crappys" (something you loved about the day, you didnt like and another loved about the day).
and that's just the camp part of it. Weekends off with the rest of the counselors meant going to New York City, Baltimore or Philadelphia, then coming back to camp to have a bon fire on the Chesapeke Bay and falling asleep on the beach. Beautiful summers.
Then..
This photo was taken in the summer of 2007. After camp ended a group of us went to Florida: Sweden, Scotland, New Zealand, Germany, Australia, Canada and America all represented under one roof. Then a few months later being inspired by these amazing people, I left the country for the first time.. and my life has never been the same. Travel is something that is and will forever be at the top of my list. I owe so much to River Way Ranch Camp and Sandy Hill Camp for making me the person I am and giving me opportunity's and "memories and friendships to last a lifetime".
I sit here reminiscing about something that is my past, but now so much of my future. The places I have gone, people I have met, the
best friends I obtained, passions I discovered and qualitys I've acquired, are all linked to these summers. *Grateful
