Timeline posts are a chance for me to get my life in order. Literally.
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When we last left off, we were headed to California to finish my last semester of college. Before we do that, we have to pause for the summer of 1998. You know how this story starts…
Remember the bridge? And the sheriff? And the gun? Right. Let’s pick it up right after that lil’ episode, m’kay?
I simply would not be who I am today had I not made it over that blasted bridge and to Black Mountain, North Carolina. It was the furthest I’d ventured away from home alone for that long of a time. Merri-Mac is a traditional Southern summer camp for girls… swimming, canoeing, diving, equestrian, rock climbing, etc. etc. etc. It’s the kind of camp where you come for 2 weeks or a whole month, and most girls go their whole life. It has camp princesses and Indian tribes (I’m a Choctaw.) and pranks and songs at meal-times and chapel. You can’t get any more classic than Merri-Mac.
That summer, I met Sunday and Jess and Annie and Stacey and Claire and Baxter and a handful of others who would play a large part in me becoming me. It was that special, transitional time in college when things started to click… where I went out on my own and realized I was actually ok. I taught rock climbing. My cabin co-counselor put me on a horse and led me over (very, very small) jumps. I drove a fifteen passenger van filled with campers to the local ice cream digs. I sang from the back of an outdoor chapel… alone… for the first time ever (Annie, do you recognize your mom’s handwriting? I still have the paper she wrote out the song for me in case I forgot the words.). I played all summer in the woods with people I did not know, without introductions or history or grand intentions… and I had a ball.
Love that place.
Love you girls… miss you. All of you.
Were you a camper or counselor any summers of your life?
I was never a camper, myself, but I was a career counselor from college until I had my kiddos: camp counselor (Camp Lone Star, Texas), camp counselor (A&M kids’ day camp, Texas), camp counselor (Merri-Mac, North Carolina), outdoor educator (CHOSS, California), guest services and ropes course (Young Life’s Oakbridge, California), ropes and outdoor educator (Camp Roger, Michigan)
Apple pie, anyone? 
November 19th, 2012 at 6:19 pm
The summer after my senior year and for a total of four years, I was a camp counselor for a missions camp in Illinois. It was fun then. Went with my daughter to missions camp this past summer and it was not the same.
November 19th, 2012 at 6:43 pm
Crazy how time and staff and the environment changes things, isn’t it? I’d almost be afraid to go back- I KNOW it’s going to be different than when I was there!
November 20th, 2012 at 12:03 am
I went to camp every from 4th grade till I graduated HS. It was some times church camp( Pine Springs) 4-H (Flatwoods) or or girl scout camp (Camp Henry Kaufmann) I was a camp counselor ( one week a year for 4 years) (Pine Springs in Jennerstone, PA ) while I was in college. I loved camping and they way we do it now us wonderful tv, microwave and a real bed. But i can still make a mean banana boat, hobo stew or the best smores ever. I know how to lash limbs to a tree to make a table and can start a fire and even cook eggs on a # 10 can with a buddy burner. i can make sit- upons and roll a bed roll with all my clothes and supplies needed for one wee.
November 20th, 2012 at 12:07 am
I think we’d all agree Uncle Gene married up. You can camp with us anytime.