Girl Scout Camp Many Years Ago

My first camp experience was when I was in 6th grade and a Junior in Girl Scouts. I had been a member of Girl Scouts for about two years in my little town in Virginia and we definitely did not do outdoor stuff. The opportunity came up to spend a week at Camp Kittamaqund (Camp Kitty, which still operates, by the way) and off I went with friends Leigh and Virginia.

The three of us stayed in a platform tent but we had cots to sleep on. As anyone who was in Scouting as a kid can tell you, it might be hard to tell you about the troop meetings, but those outdoor experiences are vivid. Some memories: Tent inspection in the mornings, rolling up the tent flaps, pillowcases facing toward each other to say "hello", sweeping the floor. Our tent was in a unit where the river flowed nearby and one day there was a rumor that there was a.....BOY.....prowling near the river. We tried our best but did not encounter him.

I was very allergic to poison ivy as a kid and of course I developed a rash at camp. I was sent off to the camp nurse. There was already a girl ahead of me complaining of a sore throat. As the nurse and another adult chatted, the nurse handed the girl a Dixie cup and told her to drink it, which she did. Then my turn came. My rash on my arm was deemed impressive but not fatal so, alas, I could not be sent home. The nurse placed a Dixie cup of liquid in front of me and turned to talk to the adult again. I was an observant child and I picked up the Dixie cup and chugged it. I was contemplating the burning sensation in my throat when the nurse's eyes grew big and she lept toward me and snatched the cup. How was I to know that the cup contained some kind of topical medicine to be applied to my rash with a cotton ball? Alas, I still did not get sent home.

I wrote letters home to my mom filled with homesickness. I said I even missed my little brother! My mom sent letters back giving the Little League baseball scores and news of a small town. She saved both my letters and hers and they are a wonderful slice of a girl's life when read chronologically. A true excerpt from one of my mine: "Virginia forgot her toothpaste so I am letting her use mine. And I forgot my toothbrush, but don't worry, she is paying me back by letting me use hers." Was it real or a joke? Even then my wit was advanced.

As the week went by my homesickness faded. We did outdoor cooking, swimming in a lake, arts and crafts, endless piles of popsicle sticks. I remember meeting for the first time a Jewish person, one of the girls in my unit. I remember huge sing-a-longs while waiting outside the dining hall for meals, shouting what are deemed today to be politically incorrect numbers such as "Gray squirrel, gray squirrel, on the power line" and "Little Bunny Foo-Foo." To this day I can sing "I Know A Place" and "Flicker." If you are a Girl Scout or leader and you don't know these songs, look them up and learn them! Like all music, Girl Scout songs can transport you back in time.