I am a Summer Camp Girl. In my middle school years, I loved going to overnight camp. As an incoming college freshman, I signed up for the Get-To-Know-You Pre-College Camp. As an adult, I can't wait till my daughters are old enough to take to Family Camp (Check this one out: "Talent Night was a RIOT!!!!" We are so there).
I love the tents, the counselors, the camaraderie, the crafts, the chores, the old and new friends, and especially the campfires and singing. I loved Camp so much as a child that when I got home, I would typically enter a funk characterized by my frequently articulated desires to "go back there," and my father would have to talk me back down from my Mountaintop Experience to the Real World. Where no one was holding hands, playing guitar, and professing love for the Great Outdoors on a daily basis.
I remember developing a few crushes on counselors, variously--and cryptically--named "Maverick," "Palomino," and "Sunshine." I recall being on the verge of Too Old for Girl Scout Camp when some fellow campers had the audacity to wear their tank tops as SKIRTS. I have a photo of my best friend and me trying this out ourselves. Our imitation was not seen as the best form of flattery.
Summer makes me especially nostalgic for Camp. As my daughters are too young to weave lanyards, I settle for singing Old Camp Songs in the car.
Here is my list of memorable tunes from years of camp:
1. Titanic (I remember being slightly scandalized while singing so happily about the sinking of said ship)
2. The Little Canoe with the Moon Shining All Around (kind of a girl power song)
3. Running Bear and Little White Dove (very dramatic hand motions for this one)
4. One Tin Soldier (this one brought out the peacenik in me at a young age)
5. I Saw A Bear ("Mommy, what does 'size up' mean?")
6. Three Jolly Fisherman (this song allowed me to yell "dam[n]" really loud, over and over)
7. Girl Scout Friend Song (sappy)
8. Ship in the Harbor (one of my favorite lullabies to this day)
9. Boom Chicka Boom (Elmo style...)
10. The Princess Pat (I never quite got this song. And I thought she had a Ricket And Doo?)
1 comment:
I'm impressed that you can remember the words (and possibly hand movements) to all of these songs? I can't get past "waddleeatcha" (sp?) to save my life and was recently shocked to learn that "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" had more than one stanza.
Perhaps you could remember that French song B. and I used to BEG you to sing...:-)
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