When I was 10 or 11, I went to Girl Guide camp at Caddy Lake in Whiteshell Provincial Park. Read this article for free: Already have an account? To continue reading, please subscribe: * When I was 10 or 11, I went to Girl Guide camp at Caddy Lake in Whiteshell Provincial Park. Read unlimited articles for free today: Already have an account? Opinion When I was 10 or 11, I went to Girl Guide camp at Caddy Lake in Whiteshell Provincial Park.
It was, at the time, the single worst thing that ever happened to me. It wasn’t because of the camp itself, which was objectively beautiful. It was just my first experience at a sleep-away camp and I was unexpectedly and violently racked by homesickness.
I only knew one other girl, a friend from my class at school who was also in my Guides troop. On the first night, when I was trying to fall asleep on my deflated and uncomfortable camping pillow now sodden with tears, I overheard her sniffling, too. “The first night is always the worst,” she called out softly to me in the dark.
This wasn’t her first rodeo, and she eventually stopped crying. But I never did. I think I cried the entire time.
It feels important to mention here that this camp was only four days long. Obviously, my embarrassing inability to rise above earned me a lot of attention. A sympathetic counsellor with an English accent took me under her wing and nicknamed me Jenny-Wren.
A cherub-faced blond girl named Reagan or Meagan placed both hands on my cheeks and said earne.
