When I think back to my first summer one of the first thing that comes to me is the rain. I'm not talking just a few scattered showers or even a nice little thunderstorm. I'm talking Earth altering, river flooding, bridge destroying, they had to bring breakfast to us in the bunks rain. Rain that started the day the kids got there and did not stop for at least 72 hours. For someone who had never been to camp I had absolutely no idea what was going on. We were on top of a mountain. How were we going to get food? How were the kids going to Wayne County games? How was I going to make it to Teddy's? I was a glass case of emotion and I almost lost it right out of the gate.The rain washed out bridges that we drove on to get to the local metropolis Hancock, NY. The rain destroyed homes and businesses such as the Cathedral de Teodoro's...also known as Teddy's Roadhouse. I remember the counselor meetings after line-up where we were told the town is still destroyed...no reason to go and we should probably just stay on camp. WHAT?! How was I suppose to get my double cheeseburger from McDs? How was I suppose to get my gummi sharks from the Getty? Again...glass case.
However, as with every storm there was a silver lining. While I was stuck in a bunk for three days I realize now that I wasn't the only one stuck. I had nine 13 year old boys as well as two other counselors trapped with me. While the kids had the luxury of knowing each other, I as well as my two co-counselors had no idea who anyone was. So what do nine boys and their three counselors do when the sky has opened up and there earth has all but disappeared? We whipped out a deck of cards and some poker chips and played Texas Hold'Em like we were on the Tour. Let's just say, as good as I thought I was at the game...I was no match to a thirteen year old with a Russian accent. Or a bald-headed football specialist. I got owned!
So while the rest of the bunk was wagering on the second hand of the game that I met my demise, I started to play my fall-back: Pokemon! I'm not talking the card game because I had just demonstrated my lack of skill with cards. No! I was playing the real thing on the then state of the art Nintendo GameBoy Advance. Now I had learned in high school that Pokemon was not the coolest past time to be had. So I played quietly on my bed until I was outed by one of my kids. Instead of making fun or jokes at my expense he asked to play one of my seven Pokemon games that I had brought for my GameBoy. Wanting to try to convince the kids to like me, and also realizing I could not possibly play all seven games at the same time I obliged his request.
Turns out, I'm not simply bad at card games but electronic games as well. I mean I had been playing this game for almost as long as these kids had been alive and they still owned me. I even chea...I mean I even used my masterful skills at bending the rules to my favor. I used all of my best moves, my best Pokemon, every ounce of knowledge I had about the creatures of Kanto. Yet still, every battle, my little gentlemen would simply faint.
Aside from the destruction of my self-esteem and the coming to terms that I'm lousy at playing most games, I realized that something else happened during those three days. I was able to spend more 1-on-1 time with my boys during those 72 hours than the entire duration of camp. We talked, we laughed, we got on each other's nerves but we became family. Josh was dad setting the rules down so there was not any confusion. I had to be the mom always cleaning up the mess left by living outdoors and tracking rain into the bunk. And Grant took the part of the jovial uncle who comes over and gets everyone riled up, then falls asleep on his baseball mitt.
Never again in the time I've spent at camp has it rained so much for so long. I remember talking about it the next year and finding out that my first summer was actually one of the driest years seen at Camp Starlight in many recent years. Eventually, the bridge from camp to Hancock was rebuilt. We had a countdown the next summer to the day that Teddy's Roadhouse would re-open. And yes, I did make it to McDonald's to get those double cheeseburgers I had been craving for so long. I never did win a game of poker but I did manage to eventually win a battle in Pokemon. Though, the scenario was drastically set in my favor and I may have still had to bend the rules a bit.
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