A Letter from Summer Camp

On my return home for the Christmas holidays, my sister and I found ourselves in the basement of our house rummaging through boxes of things that my mother had stored away. Among precious old photographs of when we were younger, I happened to stumble across an old piece of paper, which to my surprise turned out to be one of my letters home from when I was a 12 year old camper. Sitting on the floor of my basement I was immediately transported back to some of the happiest memories of my life: as a camper at Wyonegonic. I laughed at the simple things I had written about, like cabin overnights and advanced sailing, and then realized that nothing has changed. As a counselor, I still enjoy trips as much as I did back then and I now take my campers to the same campsites that my counselors took me to years ago. I also now teach sailing at camp, and I got to teach the advanced sailors that were as enthusiastic about sailing as I was as a camper. I even sent two twelve year old campers to a regatta, which were some of my fondest memories at camp. The letter I found was hilarious to me especially with the excessive amount of abbreviations and scribbles, but also very comforting because camp hasn’t changed at all, this summer, seven years later I was still struggling with the broken watch dilemma. Camp life for me was fun and easy, and most importantly, it was safe. At camp, you could be who you wanted to be, and gladly nothing has changed. This letter was just a small reminder of how much camp means to me now, which is just as much as it meant to me back then as a twelve year old camper.

So, do you have any old letters or pictures hidden somewhere in your house? What does camp mean to you? Leave a reply below.

Written by Olivia Gebelein
Camper 2002-2008, 2010, Staff 2012
Currently a sophomore at  University of Southern California

 

2 thoughts on “A Letter from Summer Camp

  1. Chloe Wendler says:

    As a camper there for3 three years and another this year i would say there is no better way to spend a summer then at Wyo! I MISS YOU OLIVIA AND ALL MY FRIENDS!

  2. Maria Lucia Espana says:

    As a camper I am going to Wyo for the fourth time in my life and I cannot express how fun, happy and extraordinary Wyo summers are. I feel like I can express myself and how I really am because no one judges you, for me, camp is a place to be free and I just love it. It doesn’t matter were you come from because you will always be accepted. I can tell I always comment to my friends how awesome my summer camp is and there is no doubt that I always recommend it to everyone that asks me if Wyo is a fun place to spend summer. I really can’t wait to see all my friends again and meet new people I’m literally counting the days before camp starts. Begging to see all of you guys, hope to see ya on summer.
    Maria Lucia Espana, Caracas, Venezuela

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