come down to Monterey...

...come down to camp, and you're sure to have a lot of fun...

And we did...as campers...as counselors...and now as alums.

This past weekend was Camp Monterey's 65th reunion. Quick background on my history with camp. It's a girls camp in Monterey, Tennessee (about an hour east of Nashville in the Cumberland Plateau). It's the camp that my mom went to as a little girl and that I started going to in 1983. I was a camper from 1983-1991 when I became an assistant counselor and then a counselor and then even a "junior senior staff" member the year that I graduated from graduate school (1996).
Camp was the place where I went each summer (first for one month and then eventually for two months) where I suddenly had the sisters I'd always wanted, where I got to be a carefree kid, where I learned how to appreciate the outdoors, where I got to leave the city behind and listen for the frogs and whippoorwills at night instead of the sounds of sirens and car alarms. It's the place where I first experienced what it was like to be on a team - go Wataugas! Where I came to see my potential as a leader. Where I learned the fun of making a complete fool of myself. Where I messed up, was allowed to apologize, and got to experience forgiveness from all sides. It's where many of my childhood role models came from. And it's where I eventually got to "pay it forward" by passing on my love of camp with my campers.
It's where I grew up and remained a child.
The memories that are summer at camp for me feel endless...and I was reminded of so many of the wonderful moments of my childhood this past weekend. Nights around the campfire. Swims in the lake (which still smells the same). Waiting for some wind so that I could get the sailboat across the lake. Getting over my fear of horses (I brushed Mr. Ed for the first two summers because I was afraid to ride!). Our two teams - the Wataugas and the Nolichuckies. Volleyball games. Flagline. Songs in the dining hall. Rides in the cattle truck. Team parties. Banquet. Hotdogs and s'mores on a Thursday night. Scrambled pancakes and pie irons and blackberry cobbler when we were "fancier" on our cookouts. Trips to the Obey River. Hikes to the Rock House where we jumped off the "big rock". Counselors like Kenna, Dani, Kelly, Tricia, and Francie. Miss Dollie. Miss Sara. Vespers. Rafting on the Ocoee. Trips to Cumberland Caverns. Rainy day hikes and Miss Monterey Pageants. Talent shows. The flea market. The Cumberland County playhouse. Water pageant. JC Cabin. Cabin tennis. Fireflies on the fun field. Cow tipping (or trying to cow tip). Meteor showers. Showering under the trees. Late night talks as we looked for shooting stars.
The list could go on and on...and it doesn't even include all of the shared moments with friends and counselors that formed our friendships (I've been friends with some of these girls since I was 8! Talk to them for the real scoop on me...). The silly inside jokes. The quiet moments of tears from a disappointment or a hurt feeling. The years when I got to share my love for camp with my campers (two of whom I saw this past weekend...as one of them put it, "Elizabeth pretty much raised us...even though we weren't the best campers when we were 8!" I adored seeing Emily and Weesie again this weekend...if I can take any credit for the people they have become then I must not have done too much damage as their counselor!) And, of course, the time with my mom.
There's a book that Sally Rodes Lee put together about camp and she asked me to write about my mom. I won't share my entire entry but some parts of it seem appropriate to include here: "An inside joke. Hearing a 'camp song' on a loudspeaker in a store and smiling at one another. Stuffing each other's Christmas stockings with blue and white or green and gold items that only a Monterey girl or Watauga could appreciate. Laughing over our trips across the country from California to Tennessee each summer because I had fallen in love with a place and the people at Camp Monterey...a place that my mom had introduced me to because she wanted to share this special spot in the world with me and because as an only child she wanted me to learn things that you need 'camp sisters' to teach you. Mothers and daughters don't always get along, and mom and I were no different. But the one thing that we always had in common was our love of camp. And so whether we were agreeing (which we did most of the time) or disagreeing (which we did some of the time), I knew that as soon as a conversation or a planning moment turned back to camp that everything would be okay again... I'm proud to be part of a large group of mother-daughter Monterey pairs. I am so grateful for the sacrifices that she made so that I could come to know Monterey. We're both better individuals and a better mother-daughter duo as a result. Anyone who knows my physical features (blonde hair, blue/green eyes, fair skin) and how they contrast with my mom's physical features (brown hair...now gray!, "M&M" brown eyes, olive skin) might wonder, as I sometimes do, just what parts of my mom I inherited and what genes we share. The simple answer for me as always been - the Monterey gene." Mom has become quite an institution at camp and so it's always special for me to go back and see her in a place where people absolutely adore her and hold her in high esteem. There's even a plaque in the office dedicated to her and her 30+ years of service to camp. Go mom!
This weekend reminded me of so many things... Of the simple pleasures in life. Of the value of friendships. Of the importance of having at least one place in the world where everything feels safe and good. Of how childhood friends are often the ones who judge you the least AND remind you of who you really are (and that with those people who really know you well, you can reconnect within a matter of minutes!). Of how certain places can represent the same wonderful things to generation after generation. Of the need for moments of quiet in our lives. Of the grounding power of something old and familiar.
Where would I be without camp? Where would I be without these friends? Certainly, I would not be the person who I am today. And seeing all of us gathered back in the hills of Tennessee, meandering along the paths through the woods, splashing around in the lake, I can't help but think that Miss Dollie (founder of Camp Monterey) was smiling today as she looked down from heaven on the place and people that she had created. Hugs to all of my special camp friends...even though it's been years between visits for some of us, you will always be among the nearest and dearest to me.