I have an iTunes playlist that is labelled simply “camp”.

I could name a hundred people who would know exactly what to look for in that list – Indigo Girls, James Taylor, Styx ….

Those same people know the importance of the phrases “Polar Bears”, “The Bell”, “Aunt Jean”, “Three Tiered Dress”, “PnL”, “Hey Jean, What’s the temperature?”, “Wolf Spider”, “Blue Ball”, “Whats the chances”, “So there I was” …. and OF COURSE … the response to the shout out “PENIS!”

Twenty years ago this summer, I stood on that campground for the first time. I met people I loved on sight and others I only came to love these 20 years later.

I gave testimony in front of hundreds of people about how that single week changed my life. It pulled me out of my small town at the critical moment when my school friends all seemed to make decisions that blew their lives apart. That week gave me a different place to go, to focus, different people to love.

We kissed, we prayed, we drank, we got nekkid, we floated, we laughed, we smoked, we smoked, we talked, we loved.We used to write letters . . . then some newfangled thang called “email” – using school computers with green teletext and no graphic abilities.

Now we use cell phones, and texts, and facebook, and hell, this blog on occasion.

We graduated high school and brought new people into our midst. Shared more music, hot toddies, roadhead tapes (different story, different day), skipped classes, told stories, took roadtrips, saw concerts….

They sold our camp land, but we’re still here. A gathering of angels … Still together … Just grayer …. well not ME of course …

Those weeks are those rosy times that I remember as “the best of times” …. campfires, music under the stars, cute boys, good girl talks….

I miss my friends. I miss having the schedule on the calendar when we all knew that whatever was going on, we would be together again. When we were as close as a drive and not a flight plan. I miss you my friends. Tonight I’m flipping on the music and closing my eyes and praying that I meet you in the morning in the dining hall …. or at least in my dreams tonight.