My kids are at optimum summer camp age. You know the age, that magical sweet spot when they want to go away to camp, they can swim, they’re potty trained even at night, and they consistently tie their own shoes. Okay, they’re a little more advanced than just tying their own shoes, but they are those kids who go to camp and throw themselves fully into every game, every activity, every challenge. Their cabin leaders are gods, the camp staff are living like kings, and everything about going away is a dream come true.
We visited a special camp recently, one my husband attended as a child, one I worked at one summer, one my father attended as a child, one my grandparents helped support and build when it was first established. Even with all the changes and improvements, I felt as though I had been on staff just recently, say…three summers ago. In reality, I was on staff for one single summer, and that summer was almost 20 years ago. How can that be? I’m just barely 30 (in my mind) so I must have been the youngest staff member EVER since I would have had to be 10 for that math to work out.
Seriously, how can that be?
Here I am, barely out of my 20s (30s…okay I’m in my 40s…but please note that’s my early 40s), and somehow I have children who want to go to camp, one of whom will attend YOUNG TEENS.
And all these tiny babies think they run the joint. They just learned to walk last week so how in the world can they think they can run a camp? They still have to have two naps a day and just started being able to grip a spoon to feed themselves, and they think people are going to entrust their children to their care??
Actually, they are glorious. They are all golden and fresh, thinking they’re the first ones to ever think their thoughts or breathe their air. Their attempted maturity is endearing. That’s not to say they haven’t had experiences or lived through difficulty. But so much is out in front of them, so many directions their lives can go — almost any direction if they’re willing to live on ramen noodles (do college students still scrimp by on ramen noodles?) and have cardboard boxes as furniture.
As they floated by with their backpacks and minor sunburns, I remembered being them. I remembered being sure I could do it, sure I would probably work there full time one day, sure my ideas would work, sure I would impact the future of camp, sure I’d make a difference in the lives of the campers who came through. I was the future.
Now I’m not the future anymore. I’m not sure what time period I am (present? past? imperfect participle?).
Even if I’m unsure, I’m happy to simply be here now. “In the now” is the phrase, right? Here is good. Now works. I’ll take it.
Did you ever attend or work at camp? I’d love to hear about it. Did you know I’m writing a novel that centers around camp? It’s true! I’m more than halfway done, and I think it’s a really fun story (and real, and hard. You know, like life.). I look forward to being able to tell you more about it soon!
Angie S says
Yes. Just yes.
Cecelia L. Lester says
I come here from Five Minute Friday link up I have a son that in his 40’s. I can’t believe he is in that age bracket. Two of my friends have children in that same age range. One of them has a hard time thinking her oldest is, shall we say, in the latter half of that decade. It’s a universal feeling for parents today.
TC Larson says
It’s a phenomenon you can’t understand as a “youngster”, that feeling of disbelief that we’ve gotten to a certain age or stage of life. What a crazy feeling!
TC Larson says
<3
Carrie says
I attended music camps, VBS, beach camp, among others growing up. I had many fun memories from being at them. My favorite was the music camp. We went for a whole work and worked on a performance we gave at the very end. As a musical person, this was always a blast for me. Thanks for sharing about summer camps. What a fun topic!
TC Larson says
Wow, that music camp sounds like an amazing experience!
Uncle Wes says
Hello TC, I haven’t peeked into your blog for a while, so I decided to come back.
Your final comment is “i’ll take it.” To which I say, “That’s fine, but don’t settle for it.” I am the coordinator for my 40th college reunion this year. I shared with them that I was eager to be with them. I asked them, other group of people mainly thinks of you the way you were when you were 21? To whom would you turn to be reminded of what it was like to “be the future”? For me, this is a very important dream that we must keep on dreaming. It seems to me that throughout eternity, we will always be the future. So I love to gather with this group to remember together what is was like to be the future. This goes hand-in-hand (didn’t you love going hand-in-hand with your 20-something lover?) Being the future is part of the joy set before me which makes every cross survivable. Even though I am 62, my heart still thrives on the dreams I have been dreaming since I was 20!