living 10 for 2: a love letter to loyaltown

Well hello all you fabulous people!

This post is an important one to me for two reasons. Not only is this my first official entry within my blog, but it's one that is dedicated to a very special place that quite frankly, i'll never forget.

I'm sitting here in bed flicking through the millions of pictures I took from this summer and well, naturally I just HAD to write something down about it - to try and explain to you guys just what made the Camp America experience so fantabulously amazeballs! Whenever camp comes up in conversation or i'm asked "what was it like?"..."was it hard?...like, was it what you thought it was gonna be?" I find myself unable to break out of the habit of starting stories with "oh my god, at camp" or "oh it was so funny, there was this one kid at camp" and god knows what else...now of course to me, these stories all make perfect sense and I can see the humour and hidden gems within them, however i've quickly come to realise that this is not the case for my friends and family back home - who don't really have any idea about what my time at camp was actually like. It's all fair and well explaining, or should I say trying to explain, but they will never truly appreciate and understand the little things that made camp, well, camp. I think that may just be what makes it so incredibly unique. 

There's a saying at camp, well at least at Loyaltown there is. As soon as I touched down on American turf I heard people say that they're "living 10 for 2" - which basically means that they're living 10 months of the year just waiting for those 2 precious months to come around at camp once again. So American right? So annoying right? WRONG! I am now one of them. So if you don't like it, well there's the door my darlings! I am without doubt a 10-for-2 er. Guilty as charged my friends, guilty as charged! So anyway here goes, my love letter to Loyaltown. 

Camp Loyaltown is a non-profit, disability summer camp, set in the beautiful Catskill mountains of Upstate New York, USA. For more than forty years now, Loyaltown has helped campers discover independence along with new strengths and is a place where individuals are able to experience the joys of friendship, fun and personal achievement - free from the challenges that they face in their daily lives. Camp Loyaltown is a place committed to providing the very best of services and experiences for individuals, young and old, who find themselves suffering with intellectual and other developmental disabilities. It was nothing less than an honour and privilege to spend the summer working with and learning from the amazing people that make this place what it is.

Working at Loyaltown was without doubt one of the best experiences I've ever had in my life to date. It was a challenge, it was exhausting, it was stressful, it was hilarious, it was scary, it was unpredictable, it was astounding, it was thrilling and that's just the beginning. Nothing can truly explain the feeling when such beautiful people, or as we called them 'campers' -  placed a level of trust in you that is just too good for words. 

There is an infamous song that every camper, counsellor, parent and friend that has ever stepped foot on Loyaltown, knows someone that works at Loyaltown, has visited Loyaltown or knows a camper that attends Loyaltown has ingrained in their head, brace yourselves...

"It's my very special place, Camp Loyaltown,

We all think it's really great, Camp Loyaltown,

We go to New York, we go Upstate,

This summer will be really great,

Camp Loyaltown, it's my very special place, HEY!"

Well there you have it folks - the most pointless, corny, silly, all-American song you could think of, was Loyaltown's official camp tune! If you ask me, the simplicity and pointlessness of it is what actually makes the song have such a big impact upon anyone who hears it - because at the end of the day that's just what it was, right?...Camp Loyaltown was my very special place, wait, did I say was? It still is my very special place.
The last time I thought about camp in this much detail was probably right at the start of summer, before 500+ campers became my responsibility and I realised that life on 4 hours of sleep might just be the sweetest thing. You see, it's not until you step away from camp that the realisation hits home of just how comfortable you become in the "bubble" that it's often described as. I didn't think of all the little details that made camp what it was until now...when i'm sadly away from it all. You know what I mean though, right? When something is so brilliant, almost too brilliant, that you don't actually realise this at the time and wish you could have? Yeah well, that my friends, was camp. I can honestly say that i've never been more continually exhausted or happy than I was this summer. Working at a place which truly and honestly embraces individuals for who and what they are, looking beyond their disability and encouraging each and every one of them to just be themselves is one of the most beautiful things I've witnessed.

Obviously it wasn't all glorious sunshine and laughter for two months, there were days when home seemed so impossibly far away and the things I was missing out on were just too big. Those days passed though and it was just an enormous blessing to wake up to sunny sky's, the beautiful mountain tops of the Catskills and campers' who were beginning to not only like me, but respect me for my efforts. Before I left for camp I had visions of days spent sunbathing at the creek while occasionally comforting a camper and lifting the odd person from a wheelchair to a bed... mistake, BIG mistake. Camp is hard work. Being away from home is hard work. Caring for other peoples' disabilities is hard work. Other people in general are hard work. But more to the point, camp is also rewarding, special and unlike any other place I've ever been. I've concluded one thing, despite their disability, these people are hilarious, smart, loveable and for sure a challenge, but a challenge I wouldn't have changed. As for other people, well, if the people I worked alongside are anything to go by then other people are GREAT - they are loud, mad, funnier than a drunk nun and just impossible to be without. The guys and girls I was lucky enough to work with this summer are some of the best I've come across and needless to say, we are truly going to remain friends for life. Nevertheless as you would expect, there were days we all wanted to kill each other - you try throwing six guys and girls aged between 18-22 into a cabin, tell them to get along when there's no air conditioning and only two showers (not kidding) and see how well that goes for y'all! No but in all seriousness, at the end of the day we all knew that we could rely on each other when the going got tough... which was more often than not. I made friendships at Loyaltown that will undoubtedly continue to thrive, grow and develop across oceans and time...that's a pretty nice thought if you ask me! I met people from South America, England, Holland, Poland, the Czech Republic and Australia to name a few as well as those brash, all-american guys and gals' whom we all love to hate! We were each others family for two or three months and we've shared experiences that will be impossible to forget - even if you wanted to!

Also, it doesn't hurt that camp is pretty damn beautiful to look at.

When I look at this picture it truly is one of a 'bitter-sweet' nature. Why? Well I think that Dr. Seuss' words sums this question up perfectly - "Sometimes you will never know the value of a moment until it becomes a memory." Summer 2013 was and always will be, the best summer of my life.

So, there you have it - a love letter to my favourite place on earth. 

I'll be back soon Loyaltown - I promise! I'm living 10 for 2, remember? 

Spread the love guys, speak soon.

L xo