To Be Continued...?

If I'm being honest, I wasn't very excited for camp this year for various reasons. And yet, at the end, I still enjoyed camp and I'm glad I went. I think that says something about CYC. Favorite year or not, I don't know if you can ever really regret taking that week out of your summer to go, but I know that you can always wish you had gone back for those years you missed, wish you understood the inside jokes and stories from those years. Even after 8 years of CYC, I can still find new people to meet, and camp acquaintances to get closer to every year, new memories to make, and new ways to embrace being Chinese.

I bonded with my group, loved and laughed with and yelled at my campers, and enjoyed the time I also got to spend with my friends. I lost my voice within two days, fumbled my way through ballroom dancing with everyone else, and put on trashbags when it rained. For the first time in years, I also cried at the end of camp. I don't even think I was crying for this particular week of camp, but for my 8 years of CYC in general. After all, less than an hour earlier, my fellow counselor and I had just been teased for yawning while campers and counselors and advisors alike were all crying during the slideshow (Hey, we were tired. There weren't even very many pictures of our group). But then the good-byes began, and when I saw my two best friends coming back to say good-bye to someone they'd forgotten and I saw their tears, it hit me that this might be our last year at camp together. There are doubts about next, and our final, year, and we were already missing our fourth best friend this year. And that's when I started to cry. CYC for me, more than anything else, has always been about the friends. This is where I met some of my closest friends, and made many more besides. And year after year, I have seen more and more leave - some graduating, some just growing up and finding new priorities. And so I cried, for the memories, the friendships, the experiences, for everything that camp has been to me.

It's amazing what can happen in a week. My time at CYC may almost be over, but I think I'd like to echo what Jack said at the end of last year's slideshow: the counselors, the ACs, the advisors, and the oldest campers - we have all written our CYC stories, and now it's time for new ones. I hope that you, present and future CYC kids, continue CYC, or you'll never know what you're missing out on.