Camp Discovery.

June.

Just a month, really. A hot one.
Never been a favorite of mine.

Until, on a very long drive, I got to thinking... June is actually special. It holds two of the sweetest memories in my life. First, church camp, where I gave my life to Christ 7 years ago. Second, Camp Discovery, where I met my best friend.

I'm one of those what-if people. While at camp this year, I got to really thinking and wondering not only what would life be like without diabetes, but without camp. I wonder how much camp has impacted my life, beyond what I can actually see. I mean, there's the countless friends and memories I've had over the years associated with camp. But, experiences, people, etc. shape your personality, desires, dreams... What about me would be different if I had never experienced camp? What would have happened back home the week I was at home?

The bigger question, do I care? I love camp. It's a part of me. I wouldn't trade a healthy pancreas if it meant I couldn't ever have camp. I would've missed out on SO much. This year at camp, the kids made these lists of the pros/cons of diabetes. One kid wrote under pro: "I like having diabetes because I know I'm smarter than all the non-diabetics." True that, dude.

Every year of camp is different, I mean, besides the obvious. I feel like every year I grow closer to two or three people. One activity is always a little more fun. There's always the favorite camper(s). This year really was different though. I had boy campers. Camp is usually female counselors with girls, and males with males. But, there was a shortage of male counselors and too many female counselors. At first, I wasn't too excited at the thought of boy campers. Turned out to be a blessing in disguise.

- The six of us girls who were guy counselors got our own cabin. Camperless cabin. Meaning, even though I didn't get to work with my best friend, Ellie, we got to be cabinmates. Along with my other two friends from camp. Our cabin was a little escape from the campers, and it was almost like camp all over again, but we got to have a "counselor-less cabin" in a way.
- I embraced the inner wilderness girl inside of me. I ate a centipede (cooked and seasoned). I went fishing. I didn't have to wait on little girls who couldn't decide what to wear, and I didn't have to listen to them giggle at night.
- Ellie and I went on a few walks. We walked to a beautiful field of sunflowers early one morning, which looked like a scene from a movie. We walked to Vesper's Point, where we had gone as campers years ago. The sunrise + hills = unbelievable beauty. There was also a rock that had the "be still" verse on it. And one night, at 1 am, we hiked up there again to stargaze (though, that got interrupted by summer staff, but that's a different story).

Call it a camp of weirdos, call it fat camp, sugar camp... call it whatever you want. It's my camp. It's the place that made me realize I'm not a freak for having diabetes, that I'm not alone. Diabetes is not a bucket of fun all the time, if ever. It does make for some good jokes! But, God has a plan for causing me to have a defective pancreas. So far, it gave me a best friend. Someone who understands me probably more than myself. My bffer. My CLL. I say, God did good on this one. :)