Summertime & the Livin' Is Easy

Perhaps you haven't noticed that I've been quiet across the blogosphere over the last week, but I have been. My radio silence in the blogging world has been with good reason, though: I'm at summer camp!

You heard me. The organization I work for runs 13 summer camps across the U.S. & Canada, & I have had the honor of working at one of them for the last few days. Suffice it to say that the Internet is not super-reliable in the hills of New York state, but I've still gotten a few tweets in. I'm here to teach, of course, but I still feel very new-kid-on-the-block about being at camp in general. I went to summer camp as a kid, but never to anyplace that felt particularly meaningful; I did day camp with the YMCA & Kent State University, & I did a week of Girl Scout camp, too, which I hated because we actually had to sleep in little tents (too much camping for me!). Here, though, things feel different. It's a leadership camp for teenagers, so all the campers are really enthusiastic & friendly. I suspect that 16-year-old me would've fit in here quite nicely.

Of course, as a camp first-timer, 27-year-old me is having some significant more struggles, but nothing insurmountable. For example, I spent a night imitating Kenny from South Park, sleeping with my hoodie on & my hood up, pulled tight around my face to keep me warm when I couldn't figure out how to turn off my A/C. I was horrified to find a stinkbug inhabiting my fruit bowl. Meals are a gamble, & I've gone hungry a few times because I'm still a picky enough eater that I won't consume about 25% of camp food. But there have been some great moments of clarity, too, & that's why I'm here.

Also: Today a teenage girl asked me, with a great deal of seriousness, "How did you get to a point in your life where you feel comfortable wearing hats?" It is quite possibly my favorite question anyone has ever asked me, particularly because I only recently became comfortable enough to start wearing hats. Even now, I sometimes question my fashion choices, so being vindicated by a 15-year-old felt especially gratifying, somehow - though now that I think about it, she wasn't saying that my hat looked good so much as she was indicating that it was ballsy of me to sport it. Huh...

Anyway. As a self-professed indoor kid, I typically loathe summer. But give me an air-conditioned cabin overlooking a lake & I'm all set. I'm feeling pretty lucky right about now. If this were your view every morning, wouldn't you?