Adam Syty 1/6/02

English Autobiography

Invincible Summer

It was a beautiful summer day. One of those days you know you’ll envy at some point during the cold, snow-dusted winter. It was also the second last day of my summer at Camp Weona; the last day with my sixteen friends. We had decided to be Counselors In Training(CITs) for the summer, learning to work with younger kids in group situations. But now my summer; our invincible summer; was coming to an end.

We had just been sent out for an hour to write about our summer’s events. I chose a middle sized maple tree’s shade to lie under. The breeze would gently blow by every few minutes, rustling the paper I was attempting to quickly fill with all my summer’s events. We only had an hour to write, I wish we would’ve had a day to complete it. Every event was so vivid in my memory, I wanted to paint each picture on the page in a multitude of colors.

The hour went by and we had to return to our "CIT Room". The room was originally just a side section of the main barn at camp. But now the room had been changed into our home. Full of events from over the summer, the walls were covered with multi-colored posters showing the activities we had progressed through. Even on the inward-slanting ceiling banners and posters hung, making the room full of memories. The floor looked like it was painted with dust. Even a weekly sweeping was never able get rid of the dust that would always be a part of the home. The couch and few chairs(if you could still call them that), were set up in a circle in the back of the room. When we walked back in we found a spot in the circle and sat down. Everyone always had their spot and was never left out of the circle. Everything was the same as we had left it, except now a box of tissues was in the circle’s middle, and a pile of YMCA folders was neatly stacked next to our group leader.

We had been told by our group leader that this day would be used as a closing day for the summer. I knew this was going to be our last full day together, but I wasn’t quite sure how we could close it. I’m not sure our group leader knew how to end it either, but he did know how to begin the end. Slowly he stood up from his chair and briefly told us about our working together over the summer. He then gracefully thanked us for the best summer ever and began to pass around the YMCA folders. Inside each one was a glossy, computer printed picture of everyone together on the first day of our invincible summer. We were wearing our bright blue CIT T-shirts, smiling, and appeared to already know the future of our summer together.

Another item in the folder was a burned CD. On this CD were songs that represented our summer; they managed to capture the soul of our feelings together. Someone suggested putting the CD in our stereo, and no one disagreed. The first song came on and we couldn’t help but smile. It was "The Winnie The Pooh Song" by the Indigo Girls. Each line of the song brought back memories of late nights together as we sat and listened to our leader read the many antics of Pooh and his friends. (Winnie The Pooh was our mascot over the summer, each story exemplified a lesson on life.) The next song was by Crosby, Stills, and Nash. (About growing up.) We all had grown in our own way over the summer, like plants often grow around and over obstacles to get to the sun light. At that moment of the moment in time everyone knew what the other was thinking, but we were not able to openly confront it yet… then, someone started it. I can’t remember who it was that had the strength, but at that moment they were the strongest. Everyone else slowly followed, tears of knowing what we had, friendship; what we soon would lose, each other.

The tissue box became very useful at this point; we all began to realize and see what we had now. The whole summer we had been inside it, a central point, all together. Now we were the outsides of the circle, each of us a support of the other, connected. Looking around the circle we could all see each other. Everyone’s eyes seemed to want condolence, something the mind was still trying to grasp how to supply. But, needing one another more then ever before, we all left our mind and entered our heart. I remember just knowing what to do, and it seemed that so did everyone else. We began a silent, tear-filled procession. One by one everyone found a partner, each knowing exactly the others feelings. I can still remember every hug. It felt as if you were truly connected to the person, and maybe if you didn’t let go they’d always be with you.

As everyone was making the journey to a final person the last song of the CD came on. It was "I Will remember you" by Sarah McLachlan. The first deep piano chords intertwined the song’s lyrics into our day:

We had overcome this question and now knew the answer. The song, our invincible summer, flowed on. At this moment we knew only one more thing to do. Slowly we gathered together, and listened.

For that moment we were back to the beginning, a quick glimpse of how it started, and now how it was ending. Huddling together no one was quite sure what to say, the song spoke for us:

Finally, we all just looked up at each other; time didn’t need to exist in our moment, a photograph of our lives.

Arm over arm, we listened to the song fade out. Our invincible summer, had come to an end.