Grass always seems greener
To really understand the story I’m about to tell you. You need to know a little bit about my childhood. Specifically you will need to know what my summer vacations were like. My parents are avid travellers. They’ve been around the world and back many times. So as a child summer vacations were spent in foreign lands. My father speaks seven European languages so Western Europe was a popular destination. My mother is from Jamaica so at least every other vacation we would make our way there. Sounds fantastic right? Believe me it was. Just at the time I couldn’t truly comprehend how fantastic it was. When you aren’t even a teenager yet. Traveling can be misunderstood, or even exhausting at times. I didn’t appreciate architecture, or foreign landscapes the way I do now. Big Ben wasn’t too impressive to me after having already been up the CN tower at home. Spending day after day on the beach was great, but I’d find myself wondering what my friends were doing back home.
The back to school deception
Summer comes to an end far quicker than we always expected. I never looked forward to going back to school. Chances are that you didn’t either. One of the reasons I hated it so much was different from most others. I hated when ultimately one of our teachers would ask each student what they did on their summer vacation? Each student would stand up, and give a brief description of the highlights of their summer vacation. Where I grew up there was two very popular events that occurred on summer vacations. The first of those was frequent trips up to the cottage. They would talk about going fishing, waterskiing, and roasting hot dogs and marshmallows by the fire with their family and friends. It sounded like a blast to me. The second event I was certain to hear about was going away to camp. As amazing as the cottage descriptions were. The tales I heard about being away at camp were even better. Fishing, canoeing, Archery, and all types of Sports and Games. Making new friends, and reconnecting with friends you had made in previous years. It always seemed to end with some grand party the last day of camp. By the time it was my turn to describe my summer vacation. Visiting the Louvre, seeing the miniature city Madurodam in the Netherlands, or spending a day at Piccadilly Circus just seemed lame. My teachers always seemed interested. Why wouldn’t they be? I was describing places that they themselves had hoped to visit someday. Looking back I’m now certain that quite a few of them were jealous, and my final grades reflected it. Of course it wasn’t my teachers I wanted to impress. It was my fellow students. When I tell you that not a single one of them was the least bit interested about learning what it’s like to see the Mona Lisa. Think back to when you were ten years old, and you shouldn’t have much trouble believing it.
The greatest mistake
After years of back to school disappointments. My brother and I begged our parents to send us away to camp instead of accompanying them to whichever country in Europe they planned on visiting. It didn’t take too much convincing. Sending us away to camp was only a fraction of the cost of bringing us to Europe. Plus they would have all of that time away from the kids. So off to camp we went. Finally we would get to experience all of the fun, and games our friends had been experiencing for all those years! The camp my parents chose to send us to was called Camp Bellaleo. This camp offered two week programs, or you had an option for a full month. Seizing the opportunity, my parents signed us up for the full month. During my time there I got to experience everything I had heard about. Swimming, Canoeing, Archery, Soccer, and many other games. What they failed to include was how shitty everything else was. Each and every day your activities were scheduled beforehand. It was like being at school without the homework. If soccer was scheduled from 10:00am till 11:00am then right at 11:00am it was over. Didn’t matter if the score was tied, or you were setting up for a corner kick. It ends now. The food was terrible! Keep in mind that I had gotten accustomed to eating at restaurants in Europe, or having fresh fish prepared for me straight out of the Caribbean Sea. Kraft dinner, or baked beans just wasn’t cutting it. No one ever mentioned how uncomfortable those wooden bunk beds were. How I’d be forced to spend time learning origami, or making paper mache masks. After about a week I began to wonder if all those years my classmates had been lying. They weren’t lying. They just didn’t know any better. Their parents had been sending them away to camp for so long that it’s all they knew. Including my brother and I, only three of us stayed for the full month. Watching the others leave after the first two weeks was liking watching your cellmates get early parole. I wanted out, but with my parents in Sweden I had nowhere to go. Thankfully the camp counselors gave me a little more leeway to do what I wanted the second half of my sentence. I loved Fishing, and the Lake by the camp had a good amount of fish. Instead of the usual hour, I was allowed to fish from 1:00 till 4:00 in the afternoon. It was on the third Friday of the month that the only good thing I remember about camp happened.
My greatest catch
The Fishing gear that was supplied to us was substandard to say the least. I wish I could have brought along my $20 rod and reel from home. Still I always managed to catch something every time. Usually it was sunfish, but I also caught the odd Smallmouth Bass, or Catfish. This day was different though. Fishing with only corn as bait I saw something big swim past my hook. I saw it again about 30 minutes later, and was able to point it out to a Camp counselor as it swam into some underwater vegetation. “That’s definitely a Pike” he said. I’d never caught a Pike before so I became very determined. For the next hour I kept Fishing the same spot. I almost hooked him once more when he peeked out to sniff at the corn. Time was running out. I only had another 20 minutes before I’d be forced to call it it a day. By this point everyone else that had been fishing had stopped. All eyes were on me. Willing me to catch that one fish. Everyone there had seen him by now. In comparison to what we had caught before, this fish was huge. Even the Camp counselor was caught up in the moment. When the activities Bell rang to signal the end of my Fishing session I still hadn’t hooked him. Fortunately one of the Camp counselors agreed to allow me to continue Fishing for another 20 minutes. This is the time they usually allotted to prepare for “dinner”. He stayed with me, and it was only about 5 minutes later that I hooked the beast! As large as it was, the fight didn’t last long. The counselor had a net ready, and I hooked the fish only about 7 feet from shore. Every fish I had caught previous to this we tossed back. This one we kept. It measured just over 25 inches from the tip of his nose to his tail. Still to this day the largest Pike I have ever caught. They asked what I would like to do with it. At their suggestion the Camp cooks prepared it for me and the others in my cabin. Honestly it was the first decent meal I had in three weeks.
I did a quick search, and wouldn’t you know it. Camp Bellaleo still exists. Leaving that place was one of the single most satisfying days of my life. I never went away to camp again. I’m not saying that Camp isn’t for everyone. It just wasn’t for me. There are few things from my childhood that I remember hating more. Still, if I hadn’t gone off to camp that fateful summer. I would never have caught that trophy Pike.
