Last summer was one of the most memorable summers of my life. That's because I worked as a camp counselor at Camp Ozark. For a month and a half, I was immersed in the "camp life" that I had never previously been exposed to. It was a lot for me to get used to (and I am not sure if I ever did), but there was one thing that I never got tired of: receiving mail.

Communicating with "non-camp" friends at camp is hard. Camps usually take place in the middle of nowhere and you have maybe one off day a week, which makes visiting friends during the summer nearly impossible. Plus, most camps won't allow staff to have cell phones during working hours (which is all of the time), so texting, calling or FaceTiming is rarely going to happen for a counselor. This leaves good ol' fashion snail mail.

At camp, receiving mail the equivalent of getting a pony as a child. It's a GREAT day if you receive mail as a counselor. On the days when you don't get any type of mail whatsoever, it's a little disappointing, but it's no big deal ... until you see what your campers get. The kids are only there for a week to two weeks at most, yet every single relative (reaching out to their great-aunts once removed) will send them mail. Not just any mail, they will send three-page letters and act like it has been years since they have seen them, along with a $100 voucher to use at the camp store. So yeah, on the days you don't get mail, it sucks.

Obviously it is a little bit of a different situation between campers and counselors, but even the smallest and simplest notes mean so much to a counselor. So, to the moms, dads, sisters, brothers, BFFs, roommates, froomies, boyfriends, girlfriends, semi-acquaintances, sorority sisters, fraternity brothers, Bigs and Littles: WRITE TO YOUR CAMP FRIENDS. They will come back home loving you more than ever.

One of my top priorities in life is to make people happy, and there is no better way to brighten the day of a camp counselor than to send them a letter. Better yet, If you want to make their week, send them food. Some camps don't allow their staff to receive food in the mail, so check with ahead of time. But they will love you forever if you do, because camp food isn't exactly what you would call "gourmet."

Being a camp counselor was one of the most rewarding events I have ever had. Everyday was an adventure filled with laughing, screaming, a little crying, but most importantly, it was filled with the love of Jesus Christ. It is one of the best jobs, and one of the most exhausting, so take a second out of your summer, and write to those at camp. You won't regret it, and they won't forget it.