Kwacki

Wow, it's been a long time since I have been called that!

Kwacki was my camp name when I was a counselor up at Camp Oakcrest, probably one of the greatest places on Earth.

Camp Oakcrest is a LDS girls camp in Kamas, Utah. In 1989, I was given the opportunity to go up there and work as a counselor. I loved it! Every week we got 13 new girls and every week it was a new experience.

Tonight, they had a 50 year birthday party for Camp Oakcrest. Jenny, my sister, drove down from Burley, Idaho and we drove up there together. Jenny was up there from 1986-1987. Her name was Teddy.

When we got up there, we went to each individual cabin. When we were counselors, we signed our names on the doors of the cabins we stayed in. Most of the doors had been replaced but I was able to find one that had my name. Jenny found her name on a couple of doors. It was really neat.

I hadn't seen any of my friends and was a little down. Everyone was having a lot of fun with their old friends. Jenny had come with her friend, Sparkle (Kelly). We went up and sat in Aspen Grove, one of my favorite places at Oakcrest. On the way down I ran into Brumby (Becky). Brumby was one of my roommates up at camp. She and I had some amazing experiences together. Our first week together, we had a group that was incredibly hard! One night, Crimson (Jackie), the camp director, didn't make it down to staff meeting. We had it every night. We ran into her on our way back to our cabin and she said that as she was walking past our cabin she heard our campers planning our death... WOW, what a wonderful thing to hear. She made things better by having them play a prank on us. They put our beds in the rafters. It kind-of broke the ice. Brumby and I did grow very close during that time and we made a friendship that will last forever.

We went to the lodge where the program was. I saw Shasta, Kitten and Rascal. They were so cute and they hadn't changed. They had great refreshments. Things that brought back great memories of great desserts from camp.

During the program, they started off by singing camp songs. They then showed a video with all the pictures of all the counselors through the 50 years. While they showed this they played one of my favorite songs, Children of the Light. I started crying. I couldn't contain myself. I looked back at Kitten and she started to cry too. I grabbed her hand and then gave Jenny an hug. She had a few tears coming down also. There is such an amazing spirit up at Oakcrest. One that is really hard to replace.

After they had everyone go out to the baseball field and stand by their decade. I went out and immediately saw Winkie. Winkie was my counselor when I was a camper. I loved Winkie. She asked if she was a good counselor. I told her, obviously... I became a counselor because of the time I had up there as a camper. It was so nice to see her. She was such a great counselor! She looks the same. It was really easy to pick her out.

Soon everyone that I had seen inside from my year came out. We all started talking. They then told me that Odyssey (Brook), was there. Brook and I were such great friends. I think about her at least once a week. I have to say that the two people I truly wanted to see up there were Odyssey and Brumby. I have missed them both so much! Those two were my two best friends up there.

We got our picture taken (Kiwi, Kitten, Kwacki, Brumby, Odyssey, Rascal). We then brought out Brumby's scrapbook and looked at that while Rascal sang us our opening song. I was really impressed that she remembered it. I loved that song... BUT, I don't remember it.

At the very end, while people were saying goodbye, two girls came up to me and asked me what my camp name was. I told them Kwacki and they told me that they were my campers. I couldn't believe it! Two of them. They met up at camp and then went on to become great friends. They then became counselors together. I was so happy to see these girls. I remembered them really well! They were actually from my favorite group of girls. We had great experiences together. I even went to a picnic they put on after camp a month later. I NEVER did that! I just loved this group so much that I had to go. I cried when I saw these girls. I was so happy to see that some of my campers went back to be counselors.

What an amazing night I have had!

I have to go! Until next time... I love you!!!!