“Within the first day of any summer camp you’ll meet your best friend. This is the friend you’ll stick with until the end of camp […] The opportunities for these kinds of fast friendships, forged immediately over one or two common (but intense) interests, seem to disappear as an adult. Friendships start to take time.”
I’ve never attended a summer camp but I have been a counselor at one, so this hit hard. My camp bestie and I actually stayed in touch for some years after, even somehow managing to meet up again on both sides of the Pond.
I also recently went to a 40th birthday weekend in New Orleans, where some 14 women, each of distinctly different connection to the birthday girl, gathered. We stayed in two neighboring Airbnbs, and it kind of felt like summer camp in the way you describe (our niche interest being the feted guest of honor). Spending four solid days together, sharing every mealtime, seeing each other in varying states of getting-ready-to-go-out and getting-ready-for-sleep, filling the in-between time with coffee and local wandering… it’s like accelerated bonding, but then we say our goodbyes and go back to our different cities, perhaps never to see each other again.
I was a little melancholy reading the part about "summer friends". I know exactly what you mean but its a bit sad to think back on all the friendships spiralling further and further out of orbit.
But that meal oh my lord! Matched only by the company <3
“Within the first day of any summer camp you’ll meet your best friend. This is the friend you’ll stick with until the end of camp […] The opportunities for these kinds of fast friendships, forged immediately over one or two common (but intense) interests, seem to disappear as an adult. Friendships start to take time.”
I’ve never attended a summer camp but I have been a counselor at one, so this hit hard. My camp bestie and I actually stayed in touch for some years after, even somehow managing to meet up again on both sides of the Pond.
I also recently went to a 40th birthday weekend in New Orleans, where some 14 women, each of distinctly different connection to the birthday girl, gathered. We stayed in two neighboring Airbnbs, and it kind of felt like summer camp in the way you describe (our niche interest being the feted guest of honor). Spending four solid days together, sharing every mealtime, seeing each other in varying states of getting-ready-to-go-out and getting-ready-for-sleep, filling the in-between time with coffee and local wandering… it’s like accelerated bonding, but then we say our goodbyes and go back to our different cities, perhaps never to see each other again.
A lovely recounting of a lovely experience ✨ See you next year, summer camp friend!
I was a little melancholy reading the part about "summer friends". I know exactly what you mean but its a bit sad to think back on all the friendships spiralling further and further out of orbit.
But that meal oh my lord! Matched only by the company <3