Caney

Today "Throwback Thursday so Caney's face book page posted one of the camp group shots and I saw so many faces I knew, and missed. I felt like it was time to take that trip down memory lane.
Some of you who know me knew me from Caney, knew me from Louisiana or knew my family or are my family. You know all about the lake, the cabins, bible study, small groups, after glow, how flippnig hot it could get, KP duty, all those camp songs and lost name tags. Then there are those of you who have no idea about this part of my life, you might have heard me mention it in passing but for something so life  defining as Caney Lake was to me you might not know much detail. Even though I wouldn't consider myself a spiritual person Caney was my sacred space as a teenager. It is a Christian summer camp and though I am not a Christian, I definitely felt God's presence there on more than one occasion. I grew up on that piece of land.
 Its not uncommon for me to spare a thought for those summers of my past. Its hot outside here in Oregon (where I have lived since I was 17). Its bright and beautiful and I wouldn't mind going to a lake right now and relaxing in the water, May was always the month I would start packing and getting ready for Caney because it was usually the end of my school year and my parents would drive from New Mexico to Texas, meet up with my grandparents then they would take my brother and me to Louisiana where we would spend the entire Summer.
My very first memory of Caney was when I was a little girl (I do mean little) and there was some reason my family was on the camp grounds but I remember falling down in the parking lot and crying...I would end up crying a lot on those grounds for good and bad reasons.
Later when I was six my parents ran the camp for a year and I lived there and tried to stay out of their way during camp season. I would sit in the dining room a lot and draw and bug whoever wanted to come talk to me.
When I was old enough for Precamp a few couple years later I can recall my mother filling out the registration but not really knowing what was going on. I didn't even realize I was going to camp at first.
My grandparents took over the camp after my parents stint and ran Caney during all my experiences as a camper. My grandfather was a retired Methodist preacher, he had directed a few camps in the past and now ran the place along with my grandmother who ran the kitchen. While at camp they were not my grandparents they were Ms Evelyn (or Mama E, which I never called her) and Brother T. To be honest I always called my grandmother grandma even as a camper, it seemed weird to call her anything else. I don't remember much about that first year experience except that I really sucked at four square and I never did get better at it.
I went every year of my life until I was 15 and the bonus of it was that I lived with my grandparents while my camps weren't in session and when other camps went on I would help out and earn money. From ages 9-14 I would run the canteen, help clean up in the kitchen and do prep and a lot of times if I wasn't working I would wander around the camp grounds. I met a lot of wonderful people during those times and developed my customer service skills which are something I still have to use today.
In the spring of 2000, when I was 15 a tornado had hit Caney and wiped out a lot of trees changing how the property looked, it did enough damage to have camp cancelled that summer. I went to visit my family and help my grandparents. It was my laziest summer in Louisiana and probably most boring. My brother didn't come with me and it was my first year out there without him, the following year I had summer school and the year after that I moved to Oregon. I wouldn't return to Caney until I was 18 and a high school graduate and by that time I was no longer a camper and just a worker. It had all changed. I feel like more of my life had been spent as a camper than there actually was because it had such an affect on me. I don't often think about it because that seemed like another life entirely but it will always be in me regardless of whether I think about it.

The things I will likely remember for a few more decades:

As a Camper:
Smooth and Creamy...
Skit Night
Crying during the sketch that featured Total Eclipse of the Heart (the very first time I saw it) and feeling awkward because I had thought the counselor who played the Devil was cute...and still did afterwards haha.
The swim tests
Crying my eyes out on Thursday nights at camp but after leaving the rec hall after the last worship service, I would forget about it because everyone was determined to stay up really late and cause the last bit of ruckus before going home in the morning.
Old Lady Caney stories
How it feels to have had shaving cream in my eyes, ears, nose and mouth...gross
Cabin 7 had a spider problem
Being Robin to Meg Moore's Batman
James and Jeff as life guards and I am old school enough to remember Craig Watts ;)
The songs I fully intend to teach my children complete with hand moves. (Both Froggie songs, It Happened on a Sunday, Grey Squirrel and maybe if I am masochistic enough the Birdie Song...though I can see myself annoying any future kid of mine with that)
I miss Spaghetti Night like you wouldn't believe.
Ms Annie's tea that could break your teeth it was so sweet
Playing cards with Claire outside during our free time.
Being privy to the Sunday night Counselor meetings before camp.
Looking forward to seeing Erin Engle and Jesse Grier for the first time every summer because they were there every year.
Running down the road because Meg finally arrived at camp and giving her a giant hug.
Wondering why Tina Grigsby was never my camp counselor (though she was my small group leader)
Having my cousin Leslie as my small group leader, Green Group!!, and never really doing the assignment (called you out on that just now...)
The lake smell




As a worker:
Being the only young girl on the pay roll until the very last summer I worked there
My cousin Leslie putting less egg in the brownies despite our Grandmother not wanting him to mess with them...best brownies ever. (and yes I called you out again)
Chicken Night dishes
Knowing the lemonade contained no lemon juice
Sticking my feet into the empty ice chest in the canteen because it was so flipping warm outside
The window of the canteen getting broken from an over zealous camper
Thinking that going to work at 7am was really early (oh how times have changed in my world)
Burning myself while making rice krispie treats
Scrubbing potatoes...so many potatoes.
My grandmother's insane way of giving work directions (We know I love the woman, I love her and miss her dearly but anyone who has been her employee can not argue with me on this)
How I hated cleaning the Rec Hall back then and how I would love to be able to do it again now...


"Your love is like a shadow on me all of the time"



(I had to do it...)