Unforgettable - A Story About Summer

Unforgettable

When I went to camp for the first time in the summer of 2013, I never expected to find love. In fact, that was quite honestly the last thing I expected. I expected to have an awesome week in Winter Park with my "bros" doing outdoor shit. It turns out I got that, I made some amazing friends, and I feel so hard in love I made a metaphorical hole in our cabin. This is my story

Picture this: 3 immature teenage boys crammed into the back seat of a mini van. Not only are they immature, but they're also loud, obnoxious and they couldn't give any less of a fuck. That was me and my two friends (who I won't name for the sake of their privacy). Looking back on it, I can only imagine how irritated my parents must have been, but the car ride wasn't the end of it. They also had to stay the night with us in a tiny, cheap hotel room we booked right near the camp. I guess you gotta put your parents through hell before you give them peace right? Nah you always gotta give em hell, they're your parents. But anyways, I don't want to bore you with the details of our night at the hotel because there really wasn't much to say. We did the things any teenagers would do while left alone in a hotel room. Which is another word for "we trashed the fuck out of that hotel room" but who cares?

The next morning was an exciting one. The whole "camp drop off" process is an interesting process to say the least. One has to check in with the people at this folding table to find out their cabin, drop their child's luggage with their corresponding cabin, go do a medical check, then guide your kid to their cabin (completely optional of course). Being typical angsty teenage boys who wanted to look cool, we left our parents and ran straight for our cabin. Teton. Ah just the name brings back all sorts of memories. The moment we got to the cabin, we knew it was gonna be one hell of a week. It was basically 16 other guys that were exactly like us in all the good ways. They were all good natured, light hearted, funny, sick and twisted. Perfect. Our group of friends quickly picked the bunks in the very back of the cabin because the nature of trouble makers is: you pick the back so no one sees all the bad shit you do. Go figure

Not even an hour into my first session at camp and I was already breaking rules. The camp explicitly states that you can't bring food or snacks because bears will find the food. Which is bullshit by the way, because the entire camp is basically a village and no bear would dare venture into the camp. (Note, a bear could very well wander into teepee village but that's a different story). Anyways, our friend group had made the stupid decision to bring a ton of snacks anyways and we busted them out as soon as we got into the cabin. Because we're teenage guys, were always hungry. Breaking rules is literally our only talent, trust me. Enter camp counselors and everyone in the cabin shuts right the fuck up because, who wants to get yelled at on day 1 of camp? One of the counselors, Jared, opens his mouth and yells "Teton! We're going to meet the girls in your sister cabin, Dakota. No buts, let's go." We all groan. Everyone is the classic "no fucks given mode" but we have to do it so, off we go. Down the path outside the front of our cabin, past the boys bath house and out towards the woods where Dakota was built. Little did I know that it would be outside that very cabin, that I was going to meet the girl that would change me forever.

I want to preface this moment by saying that one of my friends said " I hope they have titties" right before we got to their cabin. So romantic right? Right! Don't answer my questions for me. Anyways, all the Teton boys were sitting around their cabin's fire pit, waiting in anticipation. Anticipation you ask? Of course, we're boys, they're girls. Use your brain. Everybody needs somebody to love! That's an obscure reference none of you will get. But I made it anyways because this is my story and not yours.

And now the moment you've all been waiting for: amidst the group of 20 or so typical teenage camp girls, one in particular caught my eye. Actually, let me rephrase that. She didn't just catch my eye, it was honestly love at first sight. And I don't believe in that kind of crap, normally. I'm gonna describe this to you the way that I saw her, and I know it sounds cheesy but this is honestly the moment that changed me forever. Ill start with her eyes because, oh my god. They seemed to change color and they reflected her personality in a way that I had never seen before. They were bright, vivid and full of life, just like she was.... and I could honestly loose myself in her eyes and I did. Then I sort of zoomed out and looked at her as a whole if you will. If I had to describe her in one word it would be breathtaking. In addition to being absolutely gorgeous, she just seemed to radiate all the good things about life, I just knew there was something about her that was unlike any other girl I'd ever seen.

But this isn't the end of my love induced tangent. She literally walked right towards me, said "oh hey you seem cool I'll sit with you" and just sat right next to me. I couldn't process what was happening to me, Andrew.exe had just stopped responding. I just had this huge string of hopelessly romantic and crush drunk thoughts about this girl I didn't even know the name of and she was sitting right next to me. But the moment didn't last long because the female counselors obviously disliked the fact that the girls had chosen to mingle with the guys right off the bat. The camp rules clearly state that guys were blue, the girls were red and that purple could not be made under any circumstance. So they had a good reason to be upset, even though every camper in Dakota or Teton thought it was bullshit.

The rest of the day wasn't especially interesting, the counselors just made us do stupid name games and cheesy introductions that really didn't benefit us in any way. I did, however, learn her name (but again, I won't name her name for the sake of privacy). Just thinking about her name, almost two years later, makes me feel this roller coaster of emotion and I still can't seem to forget the moment we met. The rest of dinner and the evening in total was spent thinking about her. I'll be honest, it was so typical teenage guy of me to be thinking about a girl all day but it happened anyways. Sue me. I fell asleep wondering if she would ever notice me again.

Come next morning, it occurred to me that our cabins would be doing the majority of activities together and we would be forced to bond. Fine by me.... Actually, it was more than fine with me. I was excited for the rest of the week, but I was also horribly nervous. I had four days to, at least make an impression. It was honestly a horribly nerve wracking thought. My young, stupid mind told me there was never gonna be a girl like her ever again. And my young stupid mind was right. In the years after this whole experience, I have yet to meet someone that comes close to her. Kinda crazy how that works right?

Monday through Wednesday slowly progressed with your typical summer camp activities such as high ropes, low ropes, cabin bonding, hiking, mountain climbing and canoeing. Oh yeah and eating, the mess hall in the main camp is where all the fun shit went down. Skits, announcements, chants, sing alongs, food fights, you name it, we had it. Still makes me smile every time I think about it. In a normal circumstance, I would have ruined my chances with her by being absolutely ridiculous and out of my mind during meals. But it was okay because she was doing the same thing. Go figure.

Through this mess of typical activities, I want to highlight two activities for you: Hiking up 5th peak and night canoeing. I'll start with my hiking story and I'll preface this by saying that me and this girl (who will remain unnamed) had become significantly closer although I'd rather stray away from how, because it was just your typical awkward introductory phase. Anyways, back to the hike. 5th peak. That means we climbed 5 fucking mountains. If that isn't impressive then I don't know what is. First peak was easy, we trudged along making conversation in our separate groups. I was talking to her, of course, I was trying to learn about her . Not to sound stalker or anything but you gotta do what you gotta do right? Fast forward about an hour and we've trudged over second peak and we're about to summit third peak. As we hit the top of third peak for our break, the horse riders start to head back down to do their riding activity. Unfortunately that meant that she was going to go with them. This gave me time to hike in silence and just think about her. Think about our talks, how close we became, where our relationship at this point in time. I guess I was thinking too hard because my best friend noticed something was up and asked what I was thinking so hard about. Him being my best friend, I explained my whole situation and asked what I should do. "Time" he answered, "just give it time, let your relationship flourish and who knows, maybe she feels the same way. You just have to let life lead you by the hand and see where it takes you."

"Deep shit" I thought but all of his words were true. I guess I was just going to have to let it all play out. Which ended up working in my favor because fate, or whatever was on my side that week. This leads me into part two of my story, night canoeing. Sounds fun right? That's because it is. Two of my close friends and I were in a canoe together and we promptly nicknamed out canoe "The War Boat." For a very good reason, we just boated around the lake, splashing everyone with our paddles. I mean everyone, we even managed to nail every single counselor and I soaked dream girl as well (that's how I'm gonna refer to her now). But it was all good fun, and by the time our canoeing evening was over, every camper was soaked and in a fantastic move. Some of the girls in Dakota, including dream girl, were going around giving wet hugs, drenching us further. She got to me and asked if I wanted one. Well no shit Sherlock, of course I want a hug from my summer camp crush. Always! But did I say all that shit out loud? Of course not. I just said yes in a very timid voice and just let it play out. Of course it was the best hug I was ever a part of. No surprise though. I also noticed that she hugged me longer than any other person. Was it just me or did it actually happen? I still can't figure it out to this day. Either way it left me a little light headed, little did I know that our first kiss would be a moment a hundred times better.

Unfortunately, we had to walk back from the canoe lake to our cabins and the reason it was unfortunate is because everyone was soaking wet and then it started to cool down. So everyone was fucking freezing. Naturally my instinct was to put my arm around the one and only dream girl. But as soon as I did it, my mind started to beat my heart up. Went along the lines of "dude! What are you doing? That was too soon man, you done fucked up" and as soon as my brain kicked in, all sorts of regret started flooding in. But all this instant regret was in vain, thankfully, she seemed to like it, welcome it even and I smiled to myself. Could it get any better than this? Well it did. My friends run up to me with a ton of other campers from our cabins and they yell "hey Andrew, I heard you're a pretty funny guy. Let's hear some jokes man, do your worst" Completely ignoring the fact I had dream girl under my arm, I laid into my friends with some of the funniest, most outrageous and most offensive racist jokes, I had stored in my memory. At this point, I probably should have stopped myself in order to not offend this girl, but lord behold, she was laughing right along with the rest of us. That's right, I didn't call her dream girl for nothing. This whole night canoeing thing just solidified my love for this girl, what is my heart doing to me?

So fast forward to Thursday and I realized "shit, there's a camp dance tonight..." So naturally I had to ask dream girl right? Right? Fuck. There goes my self confidence. "Well its either now or never man" So here it goes. Its 4pm, right at the end of the afternoon activity and she's just standing there, by herself. Why? Almost like she's waiting for something. Well I mean, picked the right time I guess. So I walk up to her and I just straight up ask her in the most awkward way possible... Went something like this. "Hey... Um so I heard there was a dance tonight so... Uh.... I was wondering if you wanted to go with.. Me?" She said yes! She didn't just say yes though, she said "I would love to, of course!" My heart did a triple backflip in sheer joy. This was shaping up to be the best week of my life.

Fast forward again to the dance and it was awkward to say the least. Neither of us knew what to do so we just sort of awkwardly talked above the music and just enjoyed each others awkward, teenage company. That is, until her friend showed up and yelled "its a dance guys, quit talking and enjoy yourselves" All it took was one glance into her eyes and we were off onto the dance floor. And we danced.... Oh how we danced... But the night was only starting to make its imprint into my memory because after the dance was closing ceremony.

Ah closing ceremony. Let me describe where it takes place first because this story with make a lot more sense if I do. Its an amphitheater sort of place with wooden benches around a large fire pit with a stone floor around the outside of the pit. Typically they have counsellors and the camp directors do talks, songs and reflections. But I paid no attention to any of that. Here's why. Our brother-sister cabin rolled in and took our seats like normal. Of course, I sat next to dream girl despite protests from many of my friends and cabin members. After all, it was the last night of camp and I had to make it count.

Anyway, we were sat far away from the fire pit because the older you were, the farther back you sat. And it was cold, really fucking cold. As we sat there, together, awkward, and cold, she looked over at me and asked for my jacket, complimented by an absolutely heart melting smile. Without thinking, I gave it to her. Obviously, but I had good reason. I had always seen posts on instagram about wearing your significant others jacket or hoodie and I guess you could call it something I've secretly longed for. We all have them so don't judge me okay? Anyways, when she asked me for my jacket, it really hit home for me. So there she was, warmed by my jacket, her face lit by the warm glow of the fire, staring off into the distance. Almost like was thinking about asking me something. But she wasn't asking, she was gesturing me. It was like a fucking movie scene, our hands came together and we sat hand in hand listening to the camp staff reflect on the week, watching the fire flicker, and enjoying each others company. It honestly couldn't have been more perfect. Every time I'd sneak a glance over at her, I'd just fall in love all over again. And she knew it too, she'd do this thing where she'd pretend like she didn't see me looking, and give me this half smile that let me know everything was going to work out. And so there we were, two hopeless summer lovers, not worrying about what came next, not worrying about when or where we would see each other again, not caring about who saw us sharing this moment together because it was our moment to share, and I wouldn't have had it any other way.

A couple notes about this story.

All of the events in this story are entirely true based on an actual experience I had in the summer of 2013.

This dream girl I wrote about is a real person, although I’ll keep her name hidden for various reasons. We dated for about 6 months before the realtionship ended. I won’t really go into detail about that.

I guess I wrote this story as sort of a self therapy sessions. Lately I’ve been having flashbacks to this scene in the end of the story over and over again. I thought writing it out might help.

So if you happen to stumble upon this story, and you like it, please let me know! If enough people care, I’ll edit it and put out a final version with more detail and all that so yeah! If you want to get into contact with me, my kik is andrewelofson. I’d love to hear what you think!