And We're Off!

Tomorrow, we're headed off to camp for the entire summer. Seriously, the entire summer. There may be one or two weeks from now until early August that won't be spent in the hot, mosquito infested environment I love so much. It's gonna be great. What will be less great, of course, is the 20+ hour drive down there...oh well, all good things come at a price.



So from here on out, the blogs will be filled with the ridiculous things that my campers do, as well as the ridiculous things I do...and as a special treat, I'll go ahead and post a personal essay that I wrote for school this year, while I was feeling nostalgic about my first summer on staff at good old KBC. Hope you enjoy it...though I must warn you, it's a bit sappy. :)


The summer days were long, unbearably hot, and incredibly muggy, but that didn’t bother the girls as they sat, giggling, on the balcony of the large, old building. The four of them were busy doing nothing, but they were doing nothing together, and that was all that mattered. If you were to ask them what they were laughing about, they would have said something along the lines of, “It’s a long story!” before bursting into another fit of giggles.
My best friends and I were having an amazing summer, working on staff at Kansas Bible Camp. We’d grown up there, together, but in the last year something had changed. We had gone from four girls who knew each other, to four girls who could not be separated. It was a fact the other staffers could not fail to notice, and it wasn’t long until we were known as “the Ninja Turtles.” Don, Leo, Raph and Mike; not one of us could be somewhere without another.
We were considered “the good kids,” having grown up in Christian families, being taught to serve Christ and respect the people around us. We were expected to be an example to the campers, and even the other staffers…but that didn’t mean we didn’t get into our fair share of mischief.
Our turn to camp came early that summer, in the middle of June. Sarah Duncan and Grace Page were going to be sophomores, and Sarah Denny and I were headed into our freshman year. It was the first time the four of us would attend a High School camp together, and we were more than excited.
Our excitement and, to be honest, craziness, caused us to always be in a group. While the four of us were inseparable, we also congregated with several other staffers; to form a large group of kids whom the counselors knew didn’t need as much attention. They would worry about the teens that were known to make questionable decisions, or maybe didn’t understand the Gospel, and leave us on our own. We didn’t mind this at all. We were very good at entertaining ourselves.
At High School camp, every meal was decorated for a different holiday, and the campers would dress up accordingly. We sang carols on Christmas, painted shamrocks for St. Patrick’s Day, and dressed up as jars of mayonnaise for Cinco de Mayo.
In the middle of the week, we all congregated in the basement as a brilliant storm raged outside. The entire camp and staff crammed together in the small basement, sitting on mattresses on the hard floor. I sat next to my friend John, who was busy in conversation with someone else. Among the bustling and noise of the many crowded campers, our little group had gotten separated. Of course, this did not bother me. We were okay without each other for this little amount of time. That’s when John leaned over to me and asked, “Where’s the rest of the Fearsome Four?” The nickname made me giggle, but I liked it. It was as if the four of us together made something greater, more important, than each of us separately.
That’s when the power went out. Eventually, when those in charge realized that it wouldn’t be coming back on anytime soon, they sent us to bed. We were only to use the bathroom in emergencies, as the water was tied into the power lines, and the toilets only had one flush in them. Counselors stood guard in the large bathroom, instructing girls not to flush. It didn’t really matter, it was only one night. Or so we thought. The next morning, there was still no power, so we all got into vans and took the two minute drive to the smaller, East Campus, which was used for girls or boys only camps, not entire co-ed camps. The Grade School Boys camp that was using the space that week shared with us for a day, and we ate our lunches out of brown paper bags on the basketball court. As we sat, some girls nearby talked about a friend of ours. “He’s so funny,” “Yeah, and cool, too!” “I know!” We looked at each other, fighting off grins, while our friend Jon said, “I just think he’s funny.” We burst into giggles once more, but the girls didn’t seem to notice. As fourteen-year-olds, nothing was funnier than girls who had crushes on our friends, and we were sure to tease him about it later. The power soon came back on, and we traveled back to the Main Campus.
Later in the week, we were bored during free time, and decided to go on a walk out to the trampoline swing, which was out in the back of the camp grounds, in the “woods.” It was a nice walk, though it would take most of our free time, we knew. A large group of us made it out there, laughing and joking along the way. The swing was a small, exercise trampoline suspended from a tree by several thick ropes, and large enough for several people to swing at once, lying on their stomachs. The recent rain had left a large puddle beneath the swing, which at first seemed to prevent us from using the swing, but proved to make it more fun. As you swung, you could reach out and splash in the muddy water, or spray some at a friend. Sarah was chewing gum, and as she was pushed along by some of the boys, she spit it out in their direction. Retaliation ensued in the forms of mud flinging, and spinning of the swing as she flew along.
Grace’s turn came, and one of the boys was pushing her, jumping up as the swing approached him; it flipped over, causing Grace to land in the muddy water. We were horrified, until we heard her hysterical laughter. It may have hurt for a moment, but she never said so.
Someone said that it must be time to start heading back for Verse Study, but none of us had thought to bring a watch. So, at our ease, we made our way back to the main building. Along the way, Sarah encountered a dead bird. With an evil grin, she picked it up by its tail. John, who loved everything to do with sports, was walking up ahead of her.
“Hey, John, catch,” Sarah said in a rush, and flung the bird in his direction, knowing he would react without hesitation. He turned and caught it—a small pause followed, before he realized what he was holding and dropped it to the ground with a loud, “Ew, Sarah!”
Laughing, we made it back to the camp—only to realize that we were fifteen minutes late! We hurried to our separate group studies, covered in mud from our little adventure, and were there just in time to recite our verses. It was a relief that we had studied them earlier in the day!
The week ended, and we went back to staffing. The rest of the summer was just as exciting and entertaining as that week had been, and it would not be forgotten. Several years have come and gone since then, and we haven’t known a summer quite as wonderful as that one. A few friends stopped coming to camp, but we made new ones. The four of us girls are as close today as we ever were, but in different ways. We’ve grown up in the last three years, grown to expect more from a summer than a good time. There is so much to learn from God’s Word, and though the last few summers have not been quite so fun, they were increasingly meaningful. Those three girls have meant more to me than I ever knew friends could. We are not so inseparable now, content to be together sometimes and separated others. But I love the time that we get to spend when it’s just the four of us, giggling and doing nothing but being with each other. These times are fewer and farther between, as we are growing older, but that only makes them more wonderful.