When I Went to Camp The Importance of Expanding Your Horizon & Braving a New Environment

by Mary Allen Talley

The first time my parents dropped me off at camp, I was a quiet 8-year-old who liked to get to know someone before opening up. Once comfortable, I never shut up, but getting me to that point could be difficult for those who didn’t know me well. Despite my outward shyness, I begged my parents to take me to camp and made the bold decision to go without a friend. Looking back, I have no idea what made me tell my mom that no, I did not want my long-time best friend to come, too, but 14 years later I consider this decision to be one that was well beyond the wisdom of a typical 8-year-old.

Upon arrival, after choosing my bunk, I looked around my cabin and had a realization: almost every girl in the room came with a friend, and almost all of them were planning on signing up for activities in groups. I started to worry I had gotten in over my head, watching girls who already knew each other sit in pairs and discuss things they did together back home. The prospect of talking to girls who seemingly all knew each other was terrifying. Then I worried that everyone, even kids not in my cabin, in all my activities would probably be signing up together. Just as I was about to totally freak out, the curly-haired girl in the bunk above me leaned over, looked at me and said, “I’m Lauren. Do you want an Oreo?”

Lauren invited me up to her bunk, and we split her pack of Oreos. She was from Houston, and as we watched other girls come to check in, I learned that her aunt was the camp nurse and she didn’t know a single girl in our cabin, either. Lauren ended up meeting every girl in the room with her Oreos, calling down to any and every person who passed, offering a snack and asking where they were from. Lauren was loud, and funny, and immediately made me feel like we’d known each other for years. We became fast friends, signing up for some of our activities together and sitting next to each other at meals all week.

When the week was over, Lauren and I exchanged emails. We ended up going to camp together for three years, regularly sending updates on our lives via rainbowcolored, cross-country emails. Sometime between the fourth and fifth grade, Lauren moved out further west and stopped going to camp. We lost touch. I have no idea what her last name is or where she is now, but for three summers, she was my best