I spent four summers in the Adirondacks at a place called Camp Regis Applejack, or CRAJ for short. My thirteenth through sixteenth birthdays were spent there being incredibly awkward and LOVING every second of it.
Behold the awkwardAt the end of every summer I sobbed. Sobbed uncontrollably as we loaded into the busses and I returned home hating my friends because they could no longer understand a word I said. "MOCHEEZMO" meant nothing to them, as it means nothing to most of you. THEY didn't know the entire score of RENT, nor were they able to do duets of "Light My Candle" with me. They didn't understand any of my inside jokes or the wonder that is Donnelly's Ice Cream.* So I did what we all did, and I hiked the shit out of my parent's phone bill.
Oh my GOD. We would spend hooooooooours on the phone. Filling each other in on gossip we had heard on our last four hour phone call to another state, or reminicing, or just speaking in what was essentially our own language. We wrote letters, we mailed packages, we visited each other...we were never out of touch for more than a couple of weeks.
And we returned to camp after our countdowns had reached zero (A lot of us had countdowns. Mine were kept in the margins of my notebook and on my left hand.) We would double check the numbers via AIM
"54 Days!"
"No 53!"
"Are you sure?"
"YES. I just double checked, go count."
"Okay. Hold on."
We hugged each other, we sussed out our new counselors, we checked how the boys were growing and checked out the new ones. We decided whether or not to pretend to be vegetarian based on the food choices it allowed us. And we made new friends. All within the first twelve hours back.
And I think it's the same for most people who went to camp, but because I never went to any other camp I refuse to actually believe this. There's no way anyone else on this planet could feel a draw to a particular place as strongly as we did. It's just not possible.
I write all of this because last weekend there was a camp reunion. AT THE CAMP. And I missed it. There were two main reasons for this:
1) I got back from France on Friday night. It was highly unlikely I would make it to the camp by Saturday morning.
2) It was expensive! The camp held the reunion to raise money for a camp scholarship, and I simply did not have the $225 to spare.
So I didn't go.
When I realized I wasn't going to make it, I was bummed. I would have loved to go, but a lot of people from my cabin weren't going either and while I was upset, I didn't think it was the end of the world.
Until today.
When the pictures started going up on Facebook.
I shit you not, I almost started crying at the office. Most of the people at the reunion were people I vaguely remember or didn't know very well - a male Apprentice Counselor from my first year there I never spoke to; a guy I had a crush on when I was 13, whose girlfriend I accidentally hit in the back with a door; the counselor from my second year who had to deal with the cabin of insane people I happened to be a part of. Only one person there was a good friend of mine, from my cabin, and I didn't care. I saw the pictures and wished so badly that I had gone.
Another friend of mine had the same feeling:
Morgan: gahhh wah i wish we had gone to craj
They better do it again next year. I will be there with bells on. And some friends.
*Okay, if you happen to be driving in the Adirondacks for any reason, you NEED to check this place out. Seriously. It's amazing. Donnelly's Ice Cream. Write it down.
Oh my GOD. We would spend hooooooooours on the phone. Filling each other in on gossip we had heard on our last four hour phone call to another state, or reminicing, or just speaking in what was essentially our own language. We wrote letters, we mailed packages, we visited each other...we were never out of touch for more than a couple of weeks.
And we returned to camp after our countdowns had reached zero (A lot of us had countdowns. Mine were kept in the margins of my notebook and on my left hand.) We would double check the numbers via AIM
"54 Days!"
"No 53!"
"Are you sure?"
"YES. I just double checked, go count."
"Okay. Hold on."
We hugged each other, we sussed out our new counselors, we checked how the boys were growing and checked out the new ones. We decided whether or not to pretend to be vegetarian based on the food choices it allowed us. And we made new friends. All within the first twelve hours back.
And I think it's the same for most people who went to camp, but because I never went to any other camp I refuse to actually believe this. There's no way anyone else on this planet could feel a draw to a particular place as strongly as we did. It's just not possible.
I write all of this because last weekend there was a camp reunion. AT THE CAMP. And I missed it. There were two main reasons for this:
1) I got back from France on Friday night. It was highly unlikely I would make it to the camp by Saturday morning.
2) It was expensive! The camp held the reunion to raise money for a camp scholarship, and I simply did not have the $225 to spare.
So I didn't go.
When I realized I wasn't going to make it, I was bummed. I would have loved to go, but a lot of people from my cabin weren't going either and while I was upset, I didn't think it was the end of the world.
Until today.
When the pictures started going up on Facebook.
I shit you not, I almost started crying at the office. Most of the people at the reunion were people I vaguely remember or didn't know very well - a male Apprentice Counselor from my first year there I never spoke to; a guy I had a crush on when I was 13, whose girlfriend I accidentally hit in the back with a door; the counselor from my second year who had to deal with the cabin of insane people I happened to be a part of. Only one person there was a good friend of mine, from my cabin, and I didn't care. I saw the pictures and wished so badly that I had gone.
Another friend of mine had the same feeling:
Morgan: gahhh wah i wish we had gone to craj
12:15 PM me: DUDE.
I KNOW
I'm really upset :(
12:17 PM Morgan: me too man
me: :(
They better do it again next year. I will be there with bells on. And some friends.
*Okay, if you happen to be driving in the Adirondacks for any reason, you NEED to check this place out. Seriously. It's amazing. Donnelly's Ice Cream. Write it down.
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11 comments:
sarah! i feel the same. the same. i'll be wearing bells and waiting at the gate when next year's reunion rolls around. love your blog.
Jesse - HI! YES. Waiting at the gates in a Tail O' The Pup T-Shirt, with a thermos full of bug juice, and an iPod stuffed with camp songs.
I absolutely know this feeling and I'm sure they will do it again next year. Start a letter writing campaign or something.
We're Going To DONNELLY'S!!!!!!!
(just channeling some Mark there.)
Um, apparently I very much missed this, too.
Also happy belated birthday! It's a wonder you didn't share with your blog readers that on your birthday at camp they would have you stand in the middle of the dining hall at dinner in front of Hundreds of campers and have people whack you with a broom.
True story, people. Trueee story.
That's because it only happened one year! Every other year we were on either the first or last day of the AJII Trip.
REMEMBER THE BIRTHDAY I HAD TO SPEND IN A VAN WITH ELINOR WANTING TO DIE? AND THEN HAD TO SLEEP IN A PUDDLE AND ALMOST *DID* DIE??
If I NEVER go to Maine again it will be too soon.
And as Sarah greeted her friends at the camp bus stop, shrieking with glee, her parents waved her off and THEN began shrieking with glee - YAY! A WHOLE SUMMER TO OURSELVES! Except, of course, for the weekly requests for more underpants and socks...what on earth did you people DO with your underwear out there? And do I actually want to know?
Love, Wendy
oh man a camp reunion would have been AMAZING. Except I had no friends and would probably have to take another vow of silence once I got up there. haha.
PS - I am actually going to be on the East Coast in NJ during your belated b-day party and wish that I could come, but it is my brother's wedding reception that night! bummer!! But I hope you have a ridiculously awesome time. Say hi to all the crajies for me.
OMG THAT PHOTO IS FROM AMES. Isn't it?!?
Noooooooooooooo. The Supermarket! FATTY NEEDES SNACKS.
Aaaand five weeks later, I finally get around to seeing this post. Which was prompted by your mention of bunk day breakfast. I have no words for the contents of that shopping cart. But I will say that I miss Ames Department Store. Which was not so much a department store as it was an (even more) unglorified Wal-Mart.
I can totally relate. I saw all those reunion pics go up too and got super sad. Then my sister went to camp this year and once she got back and posted pictures I was overwrought with nostalgia and sadness. I spent way too much time looking at pictures and hoping for glimpses of the camp I love.
Oy.
BTW, this is Inga
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