Which do you prefer Monday mornings or Tribals?

You know it's kinda funny...if someone told me that I had to give a speech in front of 5o0 people, I would not be excited. In fact, I would be the exact opposite of excited. And yet, given the opportunity to make a "speech" in front of 500 people, dressed in green and white paint, and or doing some sort of song and dance ensemble, is something that not only have I done before, but are actual moments that I would love to relive. In fact, I would relish that opportunity. At camp, I feel like super(wo)man. I can do anything. There is no fear, no shyness, no anxiety. You want me to climb up on top of a building's roof, with my best friend, singing our own Schodack words to Barbie Girl, while dressed in all pink? No problem. You want me to get up in front of the entire camp dressed in costume, while covered in soy sauce? Why, I'd love to! You see, in the presence of my Schodack family, I feel safe, invincible and free, like I can do or say anything. I gotta tell ya--nothing feels better.

This past weekend was alumni weekend at camp. As my second year as an alum, I still felt the same excitement and enthusiasm that I did last year, and the way that I have every year when driving up to camp. Ya know, like I can't wait to jump out of the car to cheer/shimmy/and clap with excitment. Just being at camp, I was on a high. I still am. I love the way I feel when I'm there. Completely happy and peaceful, like the outside world does not exist. It is a rare occasion, when you can put aside all of your other worries and stresses for an entire weekend.

I spent the weekend at camp with my best friends, hanging out with our old campers (who are all current staff members) and our old counselors. Time stood still, and this place that we all met at, keeps us connected to each other, and to Schodack. Why is everything and everyone so funny at camp? Why did kitten porn, impromptu pyramids, a hot tub time machine, topless shimmying, California Girls (via the My Place jukebox, four times) make me laugh so hard that I cried?

Camp has changed my life in ways that I will never be able to explain. It gave me a confidence, that I'm not sure I would have if it weren't for my summers spent at Schodack. But, perhaps the most tangible way that camp changed my life, is that it provided me with a hilarious group of life long best friends. And, I am lucky enough that all of them live in NYC with me. So, for me going to alumni weekend, wasn't about seeing old friends...it was traveling with my best friends to the place where we all met and made these life changing friendships.

I was chatting with an older alumni, (a former camper's parent). She asked me if it felt strange being back on camp again. Strange? That was far from how I felt. I felt like I was back where I belonged; and I have a Schodack shaped hole in my heart to prove it.