Summer Camp for Adults!

Have you ever been to summer camp?

As a young girl, I was a member of CGIT or "Canadian Girls in Training", a United Church girls group which was very similar to Brownies except it was Christian based and we got to wear these really cool "midi" shirts and a lanyard around our neck.  Isn't it awesome?  (We often translated CGIT to "Cutest Girls in Town ..... but not many of the local boys fell for that one!  Zero, I believe.)

I'd always wanted to go to summer camp; and I finally got to go the summer I was 13. There were lots of new friends to be made from all over Newfoundland; I even became friends with the niece of the then relatively unknown Gordon Pinsent.  We hiked and swam and did lots of crafts and sang around real campfires, not imaginary ones.  The night before we left to go back home, a group of us pubescent girls tied together our now-unnecessary sanitary napkins and strung them from tree to tree like it was Xmas.  The next morning, the rest of the campers laughing uproariously although the counsellors were quite perturbed. (We did take them down again.)  Yup.  I have warm, relaxing feelings whenever I think of summer camp.

But why is it that only kids get to attend summer camp?

I've been a single parent since 1998. Summer for me meant a break from making school lunches, overseeing homework, reading & signing forms, and drives to & from sports & band.  But it also meant figuring out what to do with the kids, how to pick them up from swimming lessons & a whole new set of stressors.  And these days as a host mother, the school year is full of not just the usual cares with children but the extra challenge of helping them speak the language and steering them through this new-to-them culture.  By the time the end of June comes every year, I'm ready for a break! I'm ready for summer camp!  But just where does one find an adult summer camp that fits their needs?

My summer camp would be slightly different from 1967. I'd sleep in a rustic cabin; but by myself!  And please ... Give me a good mattress & a down feather pillow. Adult summer camp meals would be nutritious, healthy and balanced ... with a daily serving of chocolate (for the bioflavonoids, of course!)  And unless I feel like walking to the mess hall, it would be delivered to my cabin.  

There'd be no phones, no TV, no computer, no texting or tweeting; and definitely no twirking! (It throws my back out).  Just quiet; just nature:  a walk through the woods in the cool of the morning; a short, restorative nap after lunch; a little gentle yoga just before dinner; and a glass of sangria with the s'mores round the fire in the evening.  There could possibly be a little "wink-wink, nudge-nudge" with the hunky older camp counsellor!  But let's face it -- older than me and male probably means any spare time would be spent clipping his nose hairs and catching up on all that scratching that can't be done in public.  And if that's the case, MY camp would have an emergency kit containing a slightly racy romance novel, a large bottle of zinfandel, a box of Belgian bonbons .... and tissues for the tears.  Any pent-up energy could be spent in the adult craft cabin learning things like:

• "Yet-Another 100 Great Things to do with Maccaroni"
• DIY Tummy Tucks and/or Botox (2-sided tape and Prep H included)
• Tacky Xmas gifts for the Kids (especially if you've brought the suggested box of embarassing photos)

Or you could take in a workshop such as:

1. How to make your own wine
2. How to stay awake past 10 pm (Completely useless if you've taken Workshop #1)
3. How to sleep past 7 am (Completely necessary to take Workshop #1)

Yes, MY summer camp would be ever so relaxing and rejuvenating for we adult women; and it would be just as much fun as I remember from my youth ..........minus the sanitary napkins! ('Cause we're all post menopausal anyway.)


Then after I get picked up from camp and fall asleep on the drive home, someone would tuck me in with a kiss ................ and they'd unpack my bags and do my dirty laundry.


If you know where I can find such a camp, please email me immediately!  I've already found my fly dope and camp hat!