Hello! My name is Zoe, I’m a fourth–year camper her at Not Back to School Camp, and this was the last day of my last session at camp.
The day started at midnight, in the kitchen. Merle and Elijah were shredding potatoes for late night latkes. Solomon, Avi, Beatrice, and Esme were chopping potatoes for breakfast the following morning. Caitlyn was in the dish pit scrubbing dishes and running them through the sanitizer. Some Chanukkah song was playing loud and everyone was bopping up and down slightly, except for Avi, who took a break from chopping to do a silly dance for me.
I left the kitchen and outside in the lodge there was a small but dedicated group hunched over the directory table, writing a personal heartfelt note inside each person’s booklet. Some people had been writing for hours, some had just started, and would write for many hours into the night.
I sat down on a bench across from Lily, and we played songs on guitar for a while. We sang Certainty and Garden Song and I Know The End and Anyone Else But You. Esme joined us and played us a song by The Mountain Goats. We were all so tired but happy to be spending these last hours singing together.
I moseyed around in and out of the kitchen and eventually decided to go to bed. People had set out mattresses and I crawled in between Esme and Umoja. I was really cold, only wearing a skirt, a shirt, and a windbreaker, with my cloak as a blanket. Despite the cold, I fell asleep really easily because I was just so so tired.
Three or four hours later, Syd is playing some pop song I haven’t heard before from her phone, and tells us all to wake up. I am still cold. She lets us know which location to bring our bags to, and reminds us to bring our mattresses to a big pile in the lodge. I get up, it is seven AM. Some people haven’t slept at all. I shiver all the way to my cabin where I put on some warm clothes and finally feel comfortable. I thread my sleeping bag through my backpack, and sling it onto my back. Then I pull my mattress down from my bunk and put it on my head. I pick up my suitcase and say goodbye to my cabin, and thank it for providing me shelter. I walk down the path over the logs, the rocks, the bridge over the creek, the grass, to the lodge. I put my things down, and then head into the kitchen.
I do some dishes for the last time and watch the bubbles swish around the big metal bowls. I can’t find the right scrubber but that’s ok. Breakfast is ready, and it’s the chopped midnight potatoes. They now have salt and rosemary and other seasonings on them, they are so nice and warm and soft, and a little crispy. The tofu scramble is so good, and I put apple sauce over all of it. I was skeptical, but the combo of sweet and savory is delicious! I sit on the floor, and more campers join me. We talk about things I’m too tired to remember, but probably about how good the food is and how we don’t want to leave this place.
Sydney stands up by the fireplace and leads us in a song, and then Christian goes over various logistical things for departure. The hug number for the year is announced, which is 1372 (if I recall correctly). We sing Look At What The Light Did Now. Some people sit and cry together, but most of the campers somehow form a circle holding hands and do a little dance. It is very sweet. Christian says that as we move through the world, we may have the urge to carry camp as a sword, and cut every relationship we have to match what we felt at camp. We might also have the urge to carry camp as a shield, and hold it up to separate us from others and from harm. Christian urges us to carry camp as a cloak, that can provide warmth and cover for us when we need it, or when someone else does. We hug each other again and cry some more and promise we’ll visit each other and stay in contact.
The people going to the airport leave first, and we wave them goodbye from the porch as the van drives away. Christian plays There She Goes on the guitar and we sing along. Larkin tells some of us about a crazy dream they had. Next the Amtrak people leave. A few of them live in my city, New York City, and we promise each other we’re going to spend more time together at home. The van drives off and it’s time for us car-goers to bring our things down the hill to the pickup area.
Down by the lake we wait and sit and talk and run and sing and promise and laugh and wave each time another camper is picked up. Finally, Saskia’s mom Angel, who is driving Saskia, Javier, and I down, arrived. We hugged people again, and then drove away as Phaedrus ran after us.
In the car, we slept and talked about camp and listened to the new Big Thief album and slept and talked some more. We stopped at a diner and waited a really long time for mediocre but filling food. A person nearby gave us advice about attractions to go visit, and when she found out we were unschooled, she said that she was homeschooled in a Christian way and wished she was homeschooled in an unschooling way, but that she turned out gay anyway, so it’s alright.
We got back in the car and stopped for labneh sour cherry ice cream at Fortunes in Woodstock. We drove by the Mall of America in New Jersey and I suggested that we in the car play hotseat, a game from camp where you can ask a person any question under a 3-minute timer. We played several rounds and it was really nice to get to focus on each person in the car and hear more about their perspective and life. Some favorite hotseat questions are: What animal do you most identify with? What are some features of your dream house? What is missing in your life? What would you change about how you were raised? What is your favorite tree?
I looked at my phone to look at the locations of campers as we moved further and further away from each other. Some of us seemed to be at the airport, or passing through a city, or in the middle of the Catskill Mountains.
As the sun set I saw New York City poking up over the horizon. Hello again.
When we arrived at Saskias house in New Jersey we were greeted by the eager dog Laika, and three cats Adelaide, Rina, and Styx. We sat on the couch for a bit until Javier’s mom Angelica came to drop off some things and pick me up. Angelica and I talked about bugs and birds and learning as we drove through the Holland Tunnel, the Manhattan Bridge, and into Brooklyn. At home my mom opened the door and gave me a salad she had saved for me. My cat Toby rubbed against my leg and jumped up and tried to eat some of my salad. My sister came downstairs and said hi, then retreated back to her room. My dad came home from work and talked with my mom about politics and other things. I showed them the metrocard crowns I made for train/rodent prom, then went upstairs to brush my teeth. I was very tired and around 10:30 I finally got to sleep in my soft bed. I slept for 12 hours straight, which is the longest I’d slept in years.
Zoe Jensen De Pedro, culminating camper
