By Alexis Daniel
Living ten for two? What does that really mean? Only people who spend their summers at sleep away camp would really understand. You get to spend two months with the people you really care about, the people you love. If you ask anyone who ever went to sleep away camp what living ten for two means, they would respond by looking at you and smiling and say: “it represents the ten months we wait for the two months we get to spend during the summer.”
I go to Camp Watitoh in Becket, Massachusetts. I have made unforgettable friendships and memories here. This is a truly exceptional place where kids figure out who they are and where they can form a life-long attachment to. As I am dreading the ten long, winter months I am at school, I count down the days until I can finally go to camp.
Living the dream in my opinion is being able to spend seven weeks with my sisters, showing my pride and spirit all around this remarkable place I will always call my home. It’s having the time of your life with the limited time you have left. Every single day, you get to live your own dream with the people you care about the most. Whether it is sports or drama, there are many opportunities to be able to live your own dream at Watitoh. All of these memories made with my best friends, all seem to conclude into one life changing experience.
As I drive up the long road that leads up to camp, my bones ache. I start to shiver. I realize that I have to make the most of these seven weeks I have left under the berkshire skies. As I watch the younger kids participate in activities, and play all of the games I played when I was their age, I realize how jealous I am of them. As I look up to the oldest group on camp every single year with tears dripping down their faces on the last day of camp, I feel the sorrow they have; and how they probably wish they were me with a few camper years left to go. I have to accept the fact that that will be me one day. Sooner or later, I will not be a camper any longer. No more participating in activities, no more going to intercamps, and most importantly, no more being a camper.
Without Camp Watitoh, I would not be who I am today. Now that I only have three years left as a camper, I realize the time spent at Watitoh is a truly memorable place and an amazing experience that I am so fortunate I get to live. No one will ever understand how I feel about Watitoh, it has left me completely speechless.
