There's a place so many of us called home for so many summers. Though we may insist we've forgotten... we don't care... it was just a summer day camp... we know it was so much more. It was our childhoods, and made to be forever a part of who we are. Remember those cool mornings at your Southland Dr., Tates Creek Center, Millpond, Park Hills or Turfland Mall bus stop, playing hot box, tag, 'down by the banks', hide 'n' seek? Remember the bumpy ride to and from camp, holding 2 fingers up at the railroad track? Remember P-E-PP-ER-H-I- double L Pepperhill? Remember morning anouncements, the pledge of allegiance, and the daily patriotic song? Remember morning (and afternoon) chores? Feeding the cows, the goats, the chickens, the rabbits, the pigs... cleaning up trash around anywhere and everywhere...? Remember group time? Remember the toteback rack? Remember those wooden signs, painted with our summer identities? Remember going to first activity? Remember "land", "water", and "woods"? Remember the swim test to get your blue/black/red/white band? Remember Games, Archery, Canoeing, Horseback, Arts & Crafts, Swimming, Ropes, Nature? Rememeber when it was just too chilly to go swimming at 9:00 in the morning? When you accidently got sunscreen in your eyes trying to put it on? Remember putting your lunch box/bag on the group lunch pole to be stored away in the games barn? Remember when the games barn went from gravel to concrete? Remember getting your lunch pole and cooler... or getting your 3, 4, 5 dollar 'hot lunch'? Remember "GRACE!!" and "Johnny Appleseed"
Remember stomping on and popping your plastic bags and juice boxes? Remember throwing rocks and monkey brains? Remember R&R? Remember camp sing - back in the woods, by the 2nd canoe pond, by the big tree at the water fountain? Remember "Titanic", "1814", "The Skeeters and the Bedbugs", "Tiny Bubbles", "3 Little Angels", "I Said a BOOM Chick-a-BOOM", "We Are the Campers", "Mountain Dew", the "Bluebirds" song, "The window, the window, the second story window..." " Singin' in the Rain", "Down by the Station, Early in the Morning" ? Remember Misses Shady? Remember "announcements, announcements, annooOOUUncements! A terrible death to die, a terrible death to die, a terrible death to die a death, a terrible death to die"? Rmember "paperwork"? Remember 3rd activity and clubs? Remember free choice? Remember wandering aimlessly when there was nothing fun to do? Remember the swings? Remember when it was so hot that they'd put ice in a cooler by the side door of the house? Remember trying to find all of your stuff at the end of the day, and never really succeeding? Remember getting dressed in your t-ball or little league uniform and waiting to be picked up early for the big game? Remember that nasty lost and found? Remember closing announcements and the busses lining up on the gravel road? Remember falling asleep on the way back to the bus stop? Remember getting on the wrong bus but not realizing it until the first stop? (oops!)
Remember finishing your lunch on the way home, in your still-wet bathing suit and shoes without socks? Remember doing it all over again the next day? It's amazing to remember, isn't it? Was it 20 years ago? 15? 10? 5? Did it mean anything to you? I bet it did... think long and hard. Remember...
Remember mattball? Remember bombardment?... Line to Line... Wall to Wall...
Remember capture the flag? Remember 500? Remember the horses? Remember Bud, Sydney, Princess, Applejacks, Scout, Apache, (Air) Jordan and the rest? Remember finding some of their bones deep in the woods? Remember those helmets and how none of them ever fit? Remember those torn up archery targets? Remember the green arrow that gave you so much pride... or let you down...? Remember trust falls? the tight rope? the aluminum tunnell? the wobbly ladder? Remember the canoes? the kayaks? the paddleboats? the fun bugs? Remember moss fights? Remember fighting over the new life jackets? Remember the Blob? Remember the upper pool? the lower pool? Remember the back porch? the bath houses? the bathrooms? Remember the steel well by the upper pool that burned your barefeet in the afternoon? Remember the red ring that was supposed to surround you and follow you when your urinated in the pool? Remember holding your breath to touch the 9 foot bottom and barely making it up before you passed out? Remember tag and marco polo and shark and relay races? Remember throwing your Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle, Transformer, Barbie, Hot Wheels, or (insert famous animated Disney movie) towel over the fence? Remember swim tests? Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced...? Remember the ceramic figurines you painted? Remember the watercolors? Remember nature walk and trust walks? Remember how hard it was to trudge up the back hill? Remember always being thirsty? Remember losing your baseball cap, your lunch box, your towel, your sunscreen, your swim suit, your goggles, your socks...
Remember forgetting a change of clothes, and really regretting it? Remember Wheel of Fortune on the old school computers in the office? Remember CITs and CILTs? Remember their lounges, and the first-aid room (aka, garages) ? Remember when you swore you'd be a counselor too? Remember Hide 'N' Seek in the woods? Remember 'ollie ollie oxen free'? Remember the haunted woods, Gurdy Moss, the old treehouse we always dared each other to climb, the disappearing trail, Tree Indians, the frog pond... poison ivy...
Remember catching frogs in paper cups and actually bringing them home? Remember Grad Camp? Remember the Grad Pad... wherever it may have been at the time? Remember the nasty furniture? Remember Tuesday field trips, Wednesdsay cookouts, Friday late nights, and every other Friday trips? Remember southland pool, Southland Bowling, Lexington Green Movies, Laser Quest? Remember Gatlinburg, the houseboat, Kings Island, whitewater rafting? One word: SEXYPACK! Remember crying on your last day of Grad Camp? Remember those Pepperhill vans? Remember the green and white? Remember the front office? Remember the air conditioning on really hot days, when free choice was spent watching The Sandlot, Pocahontas, The Pagemaster or The LIttle Rascals? Remember the gravel road and thinking you'd fall in the pond every time you drove past it? Remember rainy day shelter? Remember playing cards? Uno? Remember being so scared with each lighting bolt? Remember the big shelter, the games barn, the wood working shelter, the arts and crafts shelter...
Remember the pumpkin patch, the popcorn patch, the apple orchard? Remember the walnut tree? Remember gimp? Remember the bikes? Remember the giant hay bales? Remember carrying a rock for the whole day if you were caught throwing one? Remember campouts? Remember bringing your own tent? Remember regretting going home when all of your friends stayed? Remember those chicken patties for dinner? Remember the Pepperhill Olympics, the counselor-parent softball game, the counselor hunt... ? Remember the "Pepperhill Times" ? Remember tie-dying group tshirts? Remember the campfires? Remember the campfire songs? "Make new friends, but keep the old..." "I love the mountains, I love the rolling hills.." "You can hear the whistle blow 100 miles..." "Campfire's burning so brightly, nightfall comes very quietly..." Remember how campfires were put out? Remember sneaking jolly ranchers or suckers or coke and having a "party" while the counselors had their "meeting"? Remember the howl of coyotes, and the smell of skunks, and when Dave had to shoot them? Remember "Goooood morning campers. Rise and Shine!"
Remember waking up and your sleeping bag would be soaked in dew? Remember getting all those cheesy awards? Those pennants? Remember your free gift from the canteen every year? Remember the little flashlight, the tshirt, the tote bag, the lunch box, the money holder, the sunglasses? Remember gorging yourself at the canteen? Remember emptying your account at the end of the summer... and then realizing you still had one more session? Remember CIC? Remember Dave and Dana? Remember Dee-Dee before she was on the news? Remember Price? Remember Mrs. Stephens... and her golf cart? Remember Jo Jo the dog? Remember your counselors? Remember Morgan, Mike, Ainsley, Dori, Steve, Mindy, Louie, Daniel, Matt, Andrea, Dave, Dawn, Amy, Phil, Kim, Holly, Dreama, Brian, Cheryl, Shane, Mary, Hope, Jen, Josh, Shannon, Anna Banana? Remember your groups? Remember the Heartbreakers, the Speeding Bullets, the Flaming Fireballs, the Cool Cats, the Terminators, the Yo-Yos, the Chamelons, the Polka Dots, the Baraccudas, the Hilbillies, the Mustangs, the Dolphins, the Rainbows, the Ligtening, the Hilbillies, the Mavericks, the Lovely Ladies, the Chili Peppers, the Beach Bums...? Remember your friends? Your best friends? The greatest friends and most loyal friendships you ever knew... even if they don't exist now? Remember the freedom? Remember the innocence? Remember the magic? Do you?
*Mhmmm I'd like to linger mhmmm a little longer, mhmmm a little longer here with you. Mhmmm it's such a perfect night, mhmmm it doesn't seem quite right, mhmmm that this should be my last with you. Mhmmm and come September mhmmm I will remember mhmmm our camping days of friendships true. Mhmmm and as the years go by, mhmmm I'll think of you inside. Mhmmm this is goodnight and not goodbye. This is goodnight and not goodbye.*
