I’m not sure whose decision it was to send me the Girl Scout camp in 5th grade. I had gone to encampment weekend a couple of times, and it was okay, but at some point either me or my mother thought a whole week away at Camp Seven Hills would be fantastic for my growth as a human. I do remember looking through the catalog and selecting the week I wanted to go and being very excited for the experience. The excitement ended pretty quickly, as I realized that I was not made to go camping with the Girl Scouts. They were far more athletic than I ever aspired to be, and the girls were intimidating because of this. I just wanted to go play fairies in the woods. I hated quite a bit about that camp, not necessarily because of the Girl Scouts but because of the friends I was with and what was going on at the time- it just was not fun for me. I remember begging the nurse to call my parents to come pick me, faking an illness so that I could go home. She had none of it.
The next time I went away for a little bit of camp was a couple of years later when I joined the youth group at the Baptist church near my house. Now, I am not Baptist and never have been, but I did hang out with them for a few years when I was a preteen and young teenager. Their camp was much more fun, because it took place in the winter and no one was making me go hiking in the heat. Instead we played games and had parties and also a fair amount of church, but mostly it was a good time. This retreat took place at Camp Pioneer along Lake Erie. So, I assume it is because of my fond memories with the youth group there that I was excited when my guidance counselor nominated me at the end of freshman year to go to a Leadership and Creativity camp that would also be at Camp Pioneer. My friend Chelsea was also nominated to go, so we were very excited.
It was for a week in the summer before sophomore year, and our school was very focused on both leadership and creativity- therefore, so were we. The other girls that went from our school were older, so we did not know them well, and when we got there we were put in with several public schools, including those from inner city Buffalo.
Now, at the time, a cigarette had not yet graced either of our lips, so we were not concerned when they laid out the camp rule of no nicotine. I cannot say the same for my public school counterparts, having already fallen victim to the vigorous cigarette ad campaigns of the ’80s and 90s. Then they told us there was no caffeine, which caused even more of an uproar because apparently everybody was drinking coffee by the time they were 14. I had not yet made it a daily habit, so again I was not concerned. Then they told us there would be no sugar, and it would be a healthy, almost vegetarian diet. That is around the time we started calling it Fat Camp.
There is a trunk in my room filled with all of my memories from my childhood and I know there is a journal in there that I kept during that week, and I would dig it out but it seems like a lot of work right now. I remember having fun with Chelsea, but other than that it was a kind of hell that I would not wish on anyone. There was 7:00 a.m. yoga and super duper health food and hour-long meditations. We did a bunch of trust exercises, and I learned some origami, but that’s about all I recall.
I remember the other kids complaining a lot, mostly because they could not have cigarettes or coffee, and also because they were expecting more of a camp experience than the retreat experience we received. I knew what both things were like, and while I prefer the retreat set up, I understood their gripe. On one of the days, the local news showed up and did a piece on the camp. I remember my father videotaping it for me so I could watch when I got home.
Mostly, though, I don’t remember becoming any more creative upon leaving camp. I certainly don’t recall learning any leadership skills, but I definitely remember being deprived of food. When my parents picked me up at the end of the week and I asked them to take me to McDonald’s for a hamburger and a milkshake because I had been starving, they didn’t believe me. I recall being pretty pissed off about that.
So from my anti-athleticism in Girl Scouts to my lack of Baptist background in youth group, to the deprivation of normal eating at Leadership Camp, I decided that camp in general was never really for me. I knew girls who went in the summers, and that was nice for them, but that’s not who I was.
The year I graduated high school a few of my girlfriends and I went camping at Allegany State Park, and I realize that it was not camping that I hated but organized activities in a large group. I love sitting around the fire and toasting marshmallows, I love drinking a cup of coffee and eating cereal in the morning, I love taking a hike at my leisure or going swimming when I wish. It was having to do it with a group of 20 other teens that I despised.
I have been camping a few times now, and it is never enough, and I am always willing to go- just give me a call. But I would never go back to my camp days- they are like a bad haircut you get right before your school photo, and they are etched in my brain for all eternity. Despite my best intentions.
Ham 'N Eggs- by Brigid Hannon 