As the holidays are approaching it is time to go home back to the place where I spend most of my summers. The weather is getting colder and my cheeks are getting redder so, as most must do, I am dreaming and remembering the times of the warm sun shining off of the lakes glassy surface. If I could spend the rest of my life at a summer camp then my life would be a portrait of happiness.

This is a chance for me to share a story of how some young kids managed to change my life with just a few smiles.

I have met many kids working at this camp but there are a few that stick in my mind. One boy that was about six years old, I will refer to him here as A, was a huge part in that. A was on my bus, so every morning and every afternoon I was greeted by a huge smile and a hug no matter what else was going on. He always wanted my attention on the bus and took to grabbing my arm or leg as I was moving about helping the other kids. During the day when his group came down to the waterfront he would stand there and shout my name over and over again till I looked at him and waved hi. Then he would run towards me and give me a huge hug, for no reason and then he would run away back to his group right after that. This happened at least two times a day without fail. In the morning after I had signed in I would have to walk to the waterfront and pass through the main assembly area where I would attempt to not let A see me however I would fail. Just when I think I am in the clear I would feel something small slam into my legs and then cling to me and not let go. I would look down and A would be there, then he would start trying to drag me back to his group. Any time that A would do this some of the other kids from my bus and my swim group would also then run over and hug and cling to me too. It would always take me a few minutes to detach myself from them.

There was another boy who I will call J here, he was about 12 years old at the time and I have known him since my first year working at camp. He was in my swim group for a few weeks and he was a fantastic camper. He would always listen and be respectful, giving me his full attention and truly taking what I was saying and applying it to his swimming. This past summer I didn’t see him as much as I used to because he was older so he was in a different age group, but he would always say hi to me every time he saw me. My birthday is in the beginning of August and at camp if it is your birthday they sing to you at the morning assembly and give you a crown to wear. Now I was not planning on doing this but all of the kids on my bus wanted me to do it and they were all pleading with me, as well as the kids in my swim groups. So there I stood the morning of my birthday with the whole camp singing to me, once they finished a lot of my campers ran to me and gave me a huge group hug which melted my heart a little bit. J came up to me during the day when he saw me, he told me happy birthday and gave me a hug then he told me to meet him at the afternoon assembly because he had something he wanted to give to me. That afternoon when I found him he gave me a warm and fuzzy, which is normally what counselors give to the campers to encourage the display of the core values of camp. On the warm and fuzzy paper he wrote to me that I was the best life guard and swim instructor and that I displayed all five values which makes me awesome. In all honesty this caused me to tear up and I still have the paper and the warm and fuzzy.

I will tell one final story but then I will save the rest for another time. It was my first summer at camp, my birthday had passed on Sunday and now it was Monday, but what I didn’t realize is that they had mentioned my birthday at the morning assembly, so now all of the campers knew, they also sent the crown down to the waterfront for me to wear. Now the day has been passing and campers keep saying happy birthday to me. It was time for the youngest group of campers, 3 and a half to 5 years old, to come to the water front for their free swim and instructional swim. For their period we split up the group so half of the have instructional swim and the other half has free swim and then we switch. During the buddy check is when we do the switch and I had just called my new swim group and I was walking over to the buddy board to check them in. Once I turned around I found most of the campers standing behind me and to my surprise they started to sing happy birthday. Even now as I am writing this I am smiling because they all sounded so adorable singing and afterwards we had a big group hug and they kept saying happy birthday.

To me these are the memories I will never forget. Whenever I am feeling down or really stressed out I think of these kids and how they managed to make me smile no matter what was going on. I don’t know what I did to deserve hugs every day or a warm and fuzzy, or to have a whole group of them sing happy birthday to me when they could have been playing and splashing in the water, but they remind me all of the time to be happy. These kids would get so happy when I would give them a hug or say hi and call their name. It reminds me that the simple things in life can make a big difference, just like these kids have done for me.