My friend Michael sent me this months ago, and I found it while cleaning out my mailbox, and I thought it was appropriate for the summer time. Michael and I have fond memories of AYC, my dad spent almost 20 summers there, until he graduated from law school, and my mom was the camp nurse for five years when I was younger – it is my favorite place on the planet. Michael was a camper and leader in Tallulah Falls. This email is a gross exaggeration, but it makes me think of camp, and it makes me laugh real hard. I hope y’all have as many happy memories of camp as I do.
Dear Mom and Dad,
Our Leader told us to write to our parents in case you
saw the flood on TV and are worried. We are okay. Only one of our tents and 2
sleeping bags got washed away. Luckily, none of us got drowned because we were
all up on the mountain looking for Adam when it happened. Oh yes, please
call Adam’s mother and tell her he is okay. He can’t write because of the
cast. I got to ride in one of the search and rescue jeeps. It was neat. We
never would have found Adam in the dark if it hadn’t been for the
lightning. Our Leader, Keith, got mad at Adam for going on a hike alone
without telling anyone. Adam said he did tell him, but it was during the fire
so he probably didn’t hear him. Did you know that if you put gas on
a fire, the gas will blow up? The wet wood didn’t burn,
but one of the tents did and also some of our clothes. Mathew is going to look
weird until his hair grows back.
We will be home on Saturday if our
Supervisor, Keith, gets the bus fixed. It wasn’t his fault about the
wreck. The brakes worked okay when we left. Coach Clary said that with a
bus that old you have to expect something to break down; that’s probably why
he can’t get insurance. We think it’s a neat bus. He doesn’t care if we get it
dirty, and if it’s hot, sometimes he lets us ride on the fenders. It gets
pretty hot with 45 people in a bus. He let us take turns riding in the trailer
until the highway patrol man stopped and talked to us. Keith is a neat
guy. Don’t worry, he is a good driver. In fact, he is teaching Jessie how to
drive on the mountain roads where there isn’t any traffic. All we ever
see up there are logging trucks. This morning all of the guys were
diving off the rocks and swimming out in the lake. Keith wouldn’t let me
because I can’t swim, and Adam was afraid he would sink because of his cast,
so he let us take the canoe across the lake. It was great. You can still see
some of the trees under the water from the flood.
Keith isn’t crabby
like some leaders. He didn’t even get mad about there not being any life
jackets. He has to spend a lot of time working on the bus so we are trying not
to cause him any trouble. Guess what? We have all passed our first aid
merit badges. When Andrew dived into the lake and cut his arm, we got to see
how a tourniquet works. Steven and I threw up, but Scoutmaster Keith said it
probably was just food poisoning from the leftover chicken. He said they got
sick that way with food they ate in prison. I’m so glad he got out and became
our leader. He said he sure figured out how to get things done better while he
was doing his time. By the way, what is a pedal-file? I have to go now.
We are going to town to mail our letters and buy some more beer. Don’t worry
about anything.
We are fine.
Love,
Chris
the thin line between optimism and delusion... 
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