From working on the Short Mt. webpage, I feel as though I have been cheated by fate for being unlucky enough not to have any early camp memories. I wish I could have gone to church camp when I was growing up. We didn’t really have a youth minister until I was in high school. Even then we didn’t go to camp until I was a sophomore in high school, almost too old for camp. So many of my camp memories come from my recent adult years.
Luck of the draw I guess. Some people end up going to camp from the elementary years upward. Then they get burned out by it…and sometimes burned out on church…and then stop going to both altogether. Some people like me don’t get the chance to go during the childhood years and try to make up for it during the adult years. Even so, if I had been given the choice of going to church camp during my childhood years, I probably wouldn’t have wanted to go. I was a home body back then. Liked not having to sleep in a strange place….. I didn’t get along with other kids my own age. Maybe I liked to keep to myself. Maybe I didn’t want to get in trouble. Maybe my lack of interest in sports caused a lack of mutual interest.
I remember going on a week church retreat for the youth when I was in 5th grade. I had a hard time getting along with kids my own age during that weekend. Maybe they picked on me. Maybe I was anti-social. Who knows. That one bad experience kept me from going on any retreat for the next few years. I missed out.