Member-only story
The Summer Camp Experience that Helped Form my Identity and Gave me the Confidence to Face High School and Beyond
The Rowe Center helped me grow up to be a Happy Dancer Mom
When I was 12, my best friend convinced me to go to Rowe Camp in the foothills of the Berkshire Mountains in Massachusetts. “It’s a cool place. You can play music, make art, be weird.” I didn’t know much about Unitarians but I wasn’t a fan of organized religion. Danny assured me that camp was more spiritual than religious, “you don’t have to believe in god or anything.”
I never smelled air so fresh. I never saw mountains so big. I made friendships that continue today, nearly fifty years later. I never saw a sky so dark or with so many stars. It didn’t even look real. But it was.
Junior high campers, staff, counselors, and “spirits,” (older campers invited back to help,) did everything together. We laughed, we cried, and we ate delicious, healthy, vegetarian meals. On spaghetti night, someone hid the forks. We improvised. I was delighted by the absurdity of taking my first outdoor shower in the rain. We were a tribe where everyone belonged. We had our troubles, but we talked it out.
In the evening after dinner, we held hands, linked arms, walked, and skipped down Kings Highway to the…
