I Just Need To Do Something Normal

As we all continue to deal with the current crisis, I feel a great need to think about something else. Something more pleasant and enjoyable.

So, I'm going to reminisce about what it was like going to summer camp for me from the year 1979 to the year 1983. All of those years, I attended a camp in Smithville Flats, New York that is named Camp Bayouca. The camp is still there, and still active, though goodness only knows if there will be a camp season this summer.

The first year I went I was thirteen years old. It was just the second time I had been away from my family for several days. The counselor whose cabin I was assigned to was nice, and every year after that I also had good counselors. That first week I learned two things. One was how to scale a wall. The other was how to use a bow and arrow. 

Another thing that happened that week was when my counselor got permission to take all of us in his cabin to play miniature golf at a nearby course.

To my surprise and joy, his car was the one my father had just sold the year before. I looked at the service record on the left front door to be sure, and there I saw where Dad had recorded oil changes with his initials and the dates. The man my dad had sold the car to had given it to his son, my counselor, as a college graduation gift. So I got to ride in it two more times, which was a real blast for me. That car was a 1962 Ford Fairlane that was white with red trim and red interior.

The next year, in 1980, I learned how to use a trampoline and I met two guys my own age who were friends from the Syracuse area. We were reunited the next year, and the two years after that, for the full week. We also got to see each other two other times, over Labor Day Weekend when the camp had its annual 2-day retreat for older campers in high school.

I remember that every year I had a fair amount of spending money while neither of them had any money. They were always so grateful when I would buy sodas for all three of us.

The third year, the trampoline was gone because the premiums on the insurance policy for it had become too expensive. But that week was still fun, because I hung out a lot with those two guys, and I also spent a lot of free time with a very sweet girl that I had developed a crush on. We played a lot of what was then called "Frisbee" golf that week.

Now, let me talk about this before I forget to do so. I am grateful to the two churches I attended because in three of those five years, my fees were paid by those churches. In fact, the fifth and final year, I thought I wouldn't get to go. The fourth year was the year my Dad was able to pay for everything.

But our youth pastor and his wife came up with the money out of their own pockets that fifth and final year. He surprised me by coming to our home a few hours after Sunday services to tell me. He even took a half day off from work at his second job to drive me to camp, and gave me spending money, again, out of his own pocket.

One of the other things I remember are the first time I was allowed to be the one to ring the bell that rested in a tree in the middle of the campgrounds. I remember playing softball and scoring the winning run in one game. I remember the female counselor who took a risk while we were playing "Frisbee" golf by ourselves. She kissed me (she was 19, I was 17) and told me I was the nicest guy she had ever met.

I remember a few nights when it was warm enough to have night time sessions down at the lake we used. I never learned how to swim, but the lighting was adequate that we were allowed
to canoe short distances with a counselor in the canoe. I remember making a few small donations to help the camp build a swimming pool.

Some of the other activities were classics, like seeing how many people we could fit into a 1960s era VW Beetle. Some were more 1980s oriented, like doing a trust fall.

I would have gone one last week in the summer of 1984, as the age limit was eighteen, but I had graduated high school, which made me ineligible to attend.

I had fun every week I went. The food was actually quite good and the facilities were clean and well maintained. The camp had a nurse's office that I only had to use once for a sprained ankle.

Good memories.