church camp and other things that never change

I went to church camp two weeks ago! First time I've been to church camp in ...well shall we say...decades! Thing 1 was eligible for her first camp experience this year, but it was required that an adult accompany her for the two-day camp, so I got to go too!

Here's how things are the same, and different, since I was at Camp Yokomo all those zillion years ago.

First of all...tetherball. One of the first things I saw after we got out of the car was a tetherball court. I haven't played tetherball since I attended church camp, and don't think I've seen one of the courts since then either. I used to love tetherball, but quickly realized in trying to teach T1 what it was that you need to be tall enough to not get whacked in the face when your partner slaps that ball back at you.

Second...church camp is fundamentally the same as when I was a kid. We slept in "cabins" with poor ventilation (no cool breezes!) but with excellent ceiling fans that helped out quite a bit. The cabins still have that same funky camp "smell" to them....a mixture of lake water, sweat, sun lotion, hair spray (at least in the girls' cabins) and dirty tennis shoes. I loved it. The dining hall I swear was just like the one at Yokomo, and the requirement to sing for mail, still the same. Only difference was that the mail could come in the form of a printed email sent to the camper, rather than just a snail mail letter. T1 had to get mail twice...and both times chose the option of telling a joke, rather than singing a song, for her mail.

I don't know church camp songs any more. Maybe it was the camp director and her helpers, but I really didn't recognize the songs they were trying to sing, and apparently most of the other adults there didn't know them either. Lot's of quiet folks during song time.

S'mores--still a requirement, thank God.

Excitement can hit a fevered pitch over the sighting of a snake, or toads (both of when we had in abundance the first night) and of any other wild creatures. My daughter has no fear of toads...picked up every one she could get her hands on, while I would have not gotten near the things when I was her age.

Three...yes three...four-leaf clovers were found one morning during a scavenger hunt. Four-leaf clovers were on our list and my thought was "good luck with that" as I've never in my life found one, but two of the women in our group each found one within ten minutes of each other, then T1 found one later that morning. Her response, "I am a lucky duck."

Here's the biggest difference I noticed....I might well have been the only grown woman in attendance at this camp who was not sporting a tattoo. I was really and truly stunned at how many tattoos I saw on the other moms there. I still am not sure why anyone could commit to artwork on their body, when I have to move the art in my house around regularly because I get bored with it, but hey, it seems that I'm in the minority now. I'm not just talking single sightings...but some women had multiple tattoos in evidence...arms, legs, between their shoulders! I feel quite plain by contrast.

T1 had a great time, and I know she'll want to go back every year. I'm glad because I remember having mixed reviews about my church camp experience. Partly because I attended when I was junior high, and I was just uncomfortable with meeting new people, but I don't think my own child will be that way.

I'm glad I got to share this first year with her though.