The older I get, the more I think about the choices I have made, and where they have taken me in my life. I often find myself asking, "What would my life be like if I did this instead, or never did that?". As an 18-year-old high school student, I thought choosing a college was the last big decision I would have to make for awhile. Unfortunately, I was wrong. Decisions are made every day while I'm away at school. Some big, and some small. With most of them made in regards to my future, it has become easy to get caught up in the "build your resume" trend that is sweeping across colleges nationwide. Students are tending to do whatever looks good on a piece of paper to a future employer. I, myself, am no different. But, last March, I took a step away from all of this. With much thought and consideration, I made one of the scariest and most important decisions of my life to date. I chose to go to camp.

First off, I want to say that I have never been to a real camp. My parents enrolled me in day-camps and sports camps as a kid but never sent me off for a week to be someone else's problem (I promise they love me). Second, I am not the most daring or social person in the world. So, the idea of hopping on a plane for three months, and going to Mouth of Wilson, Virginia was absolutely terrifying. Not only would I know no one there, but I would be without my support system that I have heavily relied on throughout my battles with depression. Nevertheless, I said hell to the ways of my past and made the decision to work as a trip leader at Cheerio Adventures for the summer of 2015.

I arrived at Cheerio Adventures for staff training in the middle of May, only four days after the completion of my last final for the Spring semester at WIU. The first night at camp was not a good start. I arrived very late while my soon-to-be coworkers were asleep in our staff cabins. My suitcases were zip-tied shut and I had no way of cutting them. So I spent my first night, hundreds of miles away from home, alternating my shirt as a pillow and blanket on a blue, twin mattress (I never want to relive that night again).

It is safe to say, I was exhausted for the first day of training. I walked up to the dining hall nervous, apprehensive, and tired as hell. I sat amongst twenty strangers from different backgrounds, different states, and even different countries. At that

moment, I did not realize those strangers would soon become my family away from home. The bonds we made over this past summer will never be broken.

Cheerio Adventures is quite different from other camps. While there is a base camp located on the northern Virginia border, campers travel quite a lot in a week at camp. They participate in activities such as zip-lining, canoeing, backpacking, caving, whitewater rafting, kayaking, and much much more. All of the staff must be highly trained because the safety of the kids is an absolute must. Thus, started three weeks of intense staff training. As the days went on, I became fatigued by not only the physicality of the job but the realization I wouldn't be leaving here for a long time. I also realized that my fellow trip leaders were extensively more experienced in their outdoor endeavors. Nevertheless, I worked as hard as I could in my preparations for the arrival of the kids. I never thought I could grow so much in so many different ways in the three months that would follow.

June came, and my experiences as a rookie trip leader at Cheerio Adventures began. It was not all roses and sunshine at the beginning. I did not know the routines and shortcuts of camp. I did not know how to properly engage the parents (I can be socially awkward at times). I did not know how my hard skills would hold up in the activities of the upcoming weeks. Hell, I did not know how I was going to survive the summer. But it is obvious I made it. I'm still living. I made it through, because I relied on my personal strength, and the shoulders of my coworkers.

I went to camp a little overweight from college's demons, struggling with depression, and kind of lost as a person. But, I left camp 25 pounds lighter, happier than I had ever been in my life, and found more than myself in the Virginia and North Carolina greens.

As the weeks went on, numbers of kids came and left camp. They brought stories, laughs, shenanigans, tears, and memories to and away from Cheerio Adventures. I heard things I never thought would come out of an 11-year-old's mouth (one boy asked if I could buy him lottery tickets during a gas station stop). I also saw things that restored my faith in humanity because kids so young and innocent could be so genuine.

For the first time in my life, I realized what it was like to really be there for someone. I spent all day, every day, for six days with a group of campers every week. I was essentially their caregiver alongside my fellow trip leaders. (I will be honest there were some who I couldn't wait until their parents picked them up on Saturday morning.) But, there were many others who I wished would never leave. These kids left me with things I cannot put into words. They changed me forever. I personally believe there is no greater gift in the world than making a difference in another's life. I did whatever I could to make a difference in their lives. I ensured that they had the best damn week of their life and that they learned a little bit more than about the generics of life and growing up (I actually had a discussion about graduating from college early because of A.P. scores with an 11-year-old. Kids are quite incredible).

As the summer began to wrap up, I found myself getting emotional. Over the past three months: I formed a family with once complete strangers, led hundreds of kids safely throughout their adventures, almost drowned kayaking in the New River, hung upside down from an eighty foot cliff in the Grayson Highlands, survived a bout of Gastritis, lost a grandmother to Alzheimer's, jumped off cliffs in Knoxville quarries, hiked along wild ponies in the Appalachian mountains, swam in an underground river in Tennessee, had kids tell me I had to come back next summer, visited city after city, was left with letters and notes from my amazing campers, and found out what it meant to be truly happy and confident with oneself.

Over those three months, I think I smiled and shed more tears than I had in my previous twenty years of life. I found a home miles and miles away from my comfort zone. I found a family that was not blood, but one who I would do absolutely anything for. But most importantly, I had an experience that I will never forget. I will never forget my coworkers or my campers. And my pictures and memories will carry on long past my college career.

My resume might not include an important internship, but my life is forever changed.

After all, it's not a goodbye but a see you later.