Summer Camp

Cindy’s Memoir

By Rosanne Gulisano

I blog about snippets and snapshots of the memoirs and life stories of everyday folks attending my Lifestories workshops. I have changed the names, but the stories are the real thing, from the plain and simple to the sinister and dangerous. Enjoy!


Summer Camp

A highlight of the summer in Sterling, Illinois, in the 1970s when Cindy was a young girl, was the week long stay at Harvest Summer Camp in a nearby state park area. Canoeing, swimming, hiking, camp fires and camp songs filled the week with memories. Starting as soon as summer vacation began, Cindy and her friends began speculating on which cabin they would be assigned to. Would they get a top bunk or a bottom bunk? Most important of all, how many cute boys would be staying at the boys’ camp on the other side of the property!

Cindy and the other campers earned their fee to summer camp by selling large cans of potato chips to friends and neighbors. These pint-sized potato chips peddlers blanketed the town of Sterling in the spring to try to earn their way to their magical week at camp.

One summer the nearby creek was running high and fast from recent rains. A few of the counselors and about ten of the girls decided to “run the rapids” of the fast-flowing creek in inflated inner tubes. They were having a marvelous time splashing and laughing when a frightening mud creature appeared out of the woods. This human-looking being was coated with mud from toe to tip of hair and growled and snarled with great menace. Screaming and crying, the girls, counselors included, scrambled for the opposite bank, terrified.

The mud creature began to laugh out loud. She was none other than their friend, Suzanne, who declined to go tubing with the group, but rolled and coated herself in mud to pull off this super-successful prank.

Cindy remembers that nobody was angry. They all had a good laugh. And that was the year she asked her parents if she could stay for TWO weeks.

Marvelous memories. Sweet moments to savor.