A Small Town, But Our Whole World
My mother grew up a beach lover. Every summer, my grandparents would take her and her 3 younger sisters to Ocean City, Maryland where they would spend the whole summer diving through the dark green waves, making sandcastles, eating popsicles, playing put-put golf, and having bonfires. As my mother did, this became tradition to me and my two sisters also. The beach was everything to us, and I couldn’t imagine spending my summer anywhere else.
It was the summer of 2005, when everything began to change. I was 6 years old and my sister, Alexa was 9.
“Why do you have to go, Alexa?” I complained. We stood at the bus stop where one girl around the age of 15 jumped in another girls arms like she had been separated from her forever. I had never seen a smile as bright and genuine as I did hers before. I didn’t understand how someone could have such meaning on a persons life like those two girls had for each other. Why would they be so happy to leave their home and their family? I wondered. Camp is just a place right?
“I am only going for 3 and a half weeks Claire.” She explained. I squeezed her as hard as I could so that maybe, just maybe she wouldn’t get on that bus, and she would stay here with me. Although, she got on and even worse, she was happy to. We waved her off as the bus slowly pulled away and vanished in the distance. I thought it had been the end of the world, when really it was just the beginning.
9 Years Later
The distinction among the blackness of night and the brightness of the burning fire, creat-ed such pure serenity. We sang in faultless harmony as the tears flew down our sunburned cheeks. It had truly been the most incredible summer of our lives and we understood that it would go by quickly, but not this quick.
“Where did time go?” I whispered to myself as Kelsey grasped my hand so tightly.
“I don’t know.” She responded as her eyes began to water. It had been the ending to our final summer and looking around the circle of all 46 of our best friends, I was so lucky to have been apart of it. For a moment, the memories of that sacred place in Greeley, PA had scattered through my mind. I had flashed back to the days I first met my best friends, the days when we were just little girls with not a clue in the world with what this place would ever mean to us one day.
“I am not leaving, I can’t leave. How can I leave tomorrow morning?” I began to become angry.
“It isn’t over you guys, our days as campers are coming to a close but our friendships are just beginning.” Aliya replied. She always knew exactly what to say.
After the campfire, my bunk of 13 girls hooked onto each others arms as we slowly made our way back to our cabin.
Now, 9 years later, it all makes sense to me. Those smiles I saw that very first day at the bus stop were not as rare as I thought because I have seen smiles as genuine as that everyday from someone at camp. Camp Timber Tops is not just a place. It is where you meet your everlast- ing best friends whom you cannot find anywhere else. People who care unconditionally about you, know the real you and love you for it. A place where you are one hundred percent comfort- able with who you are and shine for being just that. Camp is everything to me, and I can’t imag- ine spending my summer anywhere else.
Claire (in green) and some of her summer sisters as 2014 CTT Olympic Captains!
