Guest blogger Sonya wrote a great piece last Monday about the heart break of watching your kids grow up – their steps toward independence and the small signs along the way that they don’t need you as much – or at least in the same way.  Her daughter went off to sleep-away camp this summer – as did my daughter – but it was my daughter’s fourth summer at camp.  The change in her amazed me after that first summer when she returned – so mature and independent in a very good way.  Now an 8th grader,  I also like the fact that camp provides an escape from the middle school drama that naturally takes place locally, especially among girls.  Camp is her special place where she has her own special friends.  The following is a little essay I wrote about the drama of a 7th grader – and the great escape and sanctuary that camp provides:

A SPECIAL PLACE

I wish I could just skip to high school, now, Alyssa thought to herself, as thoughts raced through her mind about the latest round of girlfriend drama going on.  Fortunately for Alyssa, she always held a firm stance – independent minded, friends to many, not too caught up in the he said/she said and whose best friend was who types of games, typical for the average 13 year old.  Her graceful, tall stature allowed her to stand above it all, yet it was such a part of the every day of the typical 7^th grader, it was impossible to completely not let these friend issues weigh on her mind.

Take her friend Jesse, for example.  Jesse was a little obsessive, and had to have a true best friend at all times.  Of course these “true best friends” rotated rather quickly – depending on any given moment of any given day.  Alyssa saw through it, and tried to maintain a steady course.  Yet it wasn’t always easy.  She had been Jesse’s true best friend for a while.  Jesse’s definition of best friendship was non-stop phone calls, text messages, non-ending online chats and no doing anything with anyone else but her.  Being Jesse’s true best friend was like being smothered, and Alyssa only felt suffocated.  There was no freedom to do anything with anyone else … and if Jesse found out that Alyssa in fact had done something with someone else it created a firestorm.

For these reasons – Alyssa couldn’t wait to escape to her own special place, a place where she could go to and leave behind all the trials and tribulations of the typical 7^th grader.  That place was Fernwood Cove – Alyssa’s summer camp in Maine.

Four years ago, when Alyssa was only nine, she had begged her parents to let her go to sleep away camp. She wanted to go to a place where she would know no one – and she did all the research to determine where she would go.  A girls’ camp on a lake in Maine was her choice – and off she went, never looking back.

To Alyssa, camp is that special place to escape to – a whole new set of special camp friends from all over the United States, where the silly tribulations of daily life with a wide connected web of friends is left behind and locked up.

This summer had been particularly special.  It was so fun to reunite with her group of friends – friendships that had been building over four years – friends who had this special place to share, a place where time stood still and life was very simple.  Fernwood Cove opened up a whole new world to Alyssa – it taught her greater independence, challenged her to do things she would never do at home, gave her access to so many new experiences.  Plus, the food was to die for.  The nightly campfires, locking arms and singing silly songs, tip toeing with a buddy out to the bathroom in the middle of the night with flashlight in hand – trying to stifle giggles as someone went tumbling over a tree root, were just some of the simplest things that made camp life almost better than anything.

As the sun was dipping behind the lake, a large group of girls surrounded the flagpole and slowly brought down the flag, as they held hands and softly sang Taps in the orange glow of sunset.  This was the last night of camp, and as Alyssa and her friends looked around at each other, there were a few watery eyes.

Following the flag ceremony the girls picked up their candles, lit them, and walked down to Lake Harrison, setting them a float to drift.  This was a last night

tradition at camp. As Alyssa and her friends stepped back to take in the scene, she smiled to herself. The scene before her was heartwarming, nostalgic and beautiful. The floating candles cast sparkles across the lake and created a warm glow, illuminating those things that had contributed to so much summer fun. Within her range of vision, she saw the float at the end of the dock where she and her friends would dash to, starting high up on the meadow and ending up with a wild jump into the refreshing lake.  The water slide, positioned a little further out into the lake, was the next destination point – last one there got stuck with making all the beds up in the cabin the next day.  All around, there was evidence of fun – the kayaks, sailboats, crew shells, canoes, and speedboats for water skiing.  This is nearly heaven, Alyssa thought to herself, sighing.

While it was sad to leave this heaven behind, Alyssa was excited about seeing her parents, and yes, even her brothers the next morning.  And after a day traveling in the car, she would be back home, and excited to see her friends.  And throughout the year, when the typical middle school problems with friendships would surface again, Alyssa would think forward to the time and place next summer where all those problems would just evaporate, at least for a few weeks.