There is something about returning to camp every summer. It starts on the drive, during which you mark the distance with landmarks rather than mile markers. There are the small markets, the diners, the signs for points of interest that tell you that you’re that much closer to being “there.” The second you see Alice’s Cow Palace, you glance to the side, looking for the sign for Starlight Lake Road. You turn and begin winding up the hill, anticipating that sharp turn and wondering if this road was this long last summer. It had to be, of course, but it’s these little details that you forget over the winter and which come back to you every summer almost the instant you spot the Camp Starlight sign.
As you drive up the camp road, it’s hard to look in any direction other than left, as you anticipate that first glimpse of Alumni Field. You wonder what has changed as you round the bend and see the “Welcome” sign at the foot of the staff parking lot. Inevitably something has changed, you tell yourself, for the better no doubt. This place just keeps getting better and better! Then you see the rink, the basketball courts, and the tennis courts. You catch a sparkle of water off the lake from just beyond boys camp through your peripheral vision and you realize that, whatever has changed, some things always stay the same—and that’s what you love so much about Camp Starlight. There is something about arriving on the Starlight campus for the first time, whether it’s the first time you’ve ever seen it or just the first time for the current summer, that transports you to another place. It truly is a unique and magical world that exists only within itself.
You unpack for another summer and settle back into the camp routine and wonder what fun surprises await you over the next couple of months. What new friends will you meet this year? What memories will you take away with you? You begin forming your bucket list for the summer, the accomplishments you want to remember years from now when you recall your summer of 2013 at Camp Starlight. You take yourself on a tour of campus, checking out the old and the new, and realize that ten months feels like ten minutes. It’s as if you haven’t really been gone at all.
Tags: American summer camps, Camp Starlight, sleepaway camp, summer camp memories, summer camp traditions, summer jobs
