Camp Is Over

My (almost) five-week stint at summer camp has ended. I drove down the road past the barn, the farmhouse, past the sign with the horse head on it, past the small cemetery behind the chain-link fence. I drove away listening to "Sunshine" since it was on the Staff Summer Jams Mix I popped right in.

I am free from my sandy sheets, the nights of mice skimpering feet, the squeaky whines of chillins' from the porch. But also free of the lighthouse's soft siren, and the view of multi-green pines as I stand on the Great House deck, laughing so hard with Kath--big faces and no sound since the campers have been asleep for hours. Our Crocs squeaking as we come up from a late night dip.

This was a good day. I'm currently in Slou's family's rental unit. It feels divine to be inside. REAL inside. And to have a day of driving ahead of me. Music--not itty voices singing/screaming. A couple hours ago Slou and I went for ice cream. I bumped into a child getting ready for camp arrival tomorrow. Kid has a lot in store for her. But I'm a goner. They messed up my order and gave me a sugar cone for my two scoops. It was too flimsy to hold. I grabbed the ice cream with my bare palm and patted it down. The top scoop still popped off in the car and rolled around the mat. Slou laughed forever as I performed the melodrama of hate for my dessert.

Facemasks whilst doing paperwork with Kath! (Keeping sanity in 2012.)

Last night was the First Half Final Banquet. Our Exec Director asked anyone who's life was changed by camp to please stand. I was already standing, but I would have. I would have. The room was a giant shuffle. We all stood. It's an important thing this thing I have done.

Just tell me something new,
forget about the sunshine when its gone.