My escape, my happy place, my trip down memory lane. I practically grew up at Camp Calumet, it is my home away from home. I’ve been going there since I was 8, which means 2 weeks every summer for 6 summers, which is 12 weeks of my life have been spent there. 12 weeks of pink and golden sunsets, and 4:30 am sunrises. It’s where you’ll find me and my friends stargazing on the dock, staring up at the sky speckled with glowing dots. It’s where I had a “camp romance” and fell for a boy who I knew I wouldn’t see for a year. I made some of the best friends I’ve ever had. I love this camp with all of my heart, it has taught me many things.

One morning, I am fast asleep, drool running down my cheek, and one arm hanging off my top bunk. The tent is silent, except for the occasional creaking of our beds. A sliver of morning light sneaks into our dreaming oasis, disrupting the calm. Then the dreaded blaring of all four of my counselors alarms practically shakes the tent. We all jolt awake still wondering if it's a dream. I don’t have glasses and it’s still relatively dark, I stumble out of bed thinking it’s 7:00 AM. All eight girls groan and stretch, when the counselor announces, “Good morning girls, it’s 4:30 AM and we are lucky enough to do a sunrise! Grab you’re sweatshirts, it’s 45oF out!” We all let out complaints and protest why we should go back to bed. I want to cry, my whole body aches with fatigue, I need coffee, caffeine, anything.

We walk down to the docks in the dim morning light, and it is freakin’ cold out! My teeth chatter and goosebumps have risen over every inch of my aching body. When we arrive at the water everyone looks around. Cloudy whiteness covers the large expanse of Lake Ossipee, it’s foggy, cold, and dreadful, there is no sunrise to see this morning.I want to run back to my bunk and curl up in my blankets. We all are silent, even the counselors have nothing to say. I mean what a fail of a morning, it was 20 minutes of my life that I won’t get back. Then we all laugh so hard that tears start to run down our rosy cheeks, I can’t stop the tears from coming. My counselor then said, “Alrighty girls, I want to apologize for wasting your time, let’s head back to the tent and sleep in.”  Can’t say I didn’t try!

Just as we start to head back, I turn around to see that the fog is parting, I yell “look guys! Isn’t it magnificent?” They turn their tired and sad heads around, and stop. We all stop because it’s so beautiful. It is breathtaking and gorgeous, I’ve never seen anything like it. The colors are so vivid, The pinkest pink, lilac purple, gold, and orange. The colors blaze the sky and melt the fog. We all lay down in awe, it is truly life changing. How can a sunrise be so impactful, it was the brilliant sky that taught us to not give up, to never quit. To think that if we left 5 minutes earlier, I would have never seen the sunrise that morning.  That vivid and blazing sky brought us all closer, and just added to the memories at Calumet.