CAMP REUNION WITH THE GIRLS FROM YOUR CABIN – If you’re lucky enough, your parents send you away to summer camp. I was nine years old when my parents first shoved me on that camp bus, which I’m fairly certain was an excuse to get rid of the kids for eight weeks. I get it now guys.
The first summer I was shy, homesick, and I wanted to go home desperately. But the time year two rolled around I had met some amazing friends in my cabin and I was hooked. Camp was effectively a full summer-long slumber party. At night time, we giggled and ate junk food until we passed out. During the day we went skiing, sailing, windsurfing, played tennis, danced, etc. There was no shortage of fun activities; except maybe pottery and arts & crafts. Not really my bag. You went from one activity to the next with the same group of girls, sharing stories of life, embarrassment and your latest crush. It was with these girls that I experienced so many milestones of childhood and adolescence, including first crushes, first kisses, menstruation, smoking, dropping a ski for the first time, shaving legs, singing and dancing on stage, heartbreak, and a few more I can’t mention here. You bond quickly and intensely at camp. You literally grow up with each other, feeling like a family.
Eventually you leave camp to start work in the real world. You go to university, graduate school, move cities, jobs, get married, get divorced, and have kids, have more kids. You lose touch with each other, though the affection for one another never wanes. While you haven’t seen them in over twenty years, you keep tabs on Facebook and Instagram, feeling at least some form of connection.
Then one magically day, you get an invite for the reunion dinner. You count down the days until that night, and from the second you all sit down at the table, it’s as if not a moment has passed. Seriously. With such ease, you jump into conversation, filling each other in on life events and reminisce about camp days. You drink wine or scotch as the night progresses, fill your bellies with delicious Italian food, and laugh for hours, remembering just how special these girls are. So go get your camp reunion on, because getting the band back together CHANGES EVERYTHING!