Tuesday, March 19, 2013

Thirteen

Flip-flops flapping, towels around our waists, and ponytails flying in the cool breeze of Northern Ontario, we raced, arm-in-arm, up Girl's Hill to our cabin.

We slammed through the creaky door and fell onto my bottom bunk in a fit of giggles as Dave Matthews' voice drifted through the boom box.

Come and crash into me baby.

It was the anthem of our summer afternoons. The soundtrack to those magic hours between swimming and dinner when twenty-three girls ran back and forth between two cabins borrowing clothes and makeup, and approving each other's outfits as the sun dipped in the horizon.

We were thirteen, it was July, and summer would never be over.

"Greg likes you, I know it," Jessie said, as she lay on my bed, head dangling over the edge. "You have to look pretty tonight. Wear Noa's jeans. He'll ask to walk you back to the cabin for sure."

Getting asked to walk back was serious business. And when it was a sure thing, the whole cabin pitched in to help. We got ready for dinner in a flurry of sparkly eye shadow, Bonnie Bell Lip Smackers and Angel perfume and walked down to the dining hall in a pack, talking all at once even as we kept an eagle eye out for the boys.

When they appeared we all turned towards each other, whispering and laughing and pretending like we hadn't seen them.

I saw Greg approach out of the corner of my eye. Continuing to ignore him, my voice rose just an octave as Jessie and I talked nonsense to each other.

He tapped me on the shoulder and I turned, my stomach alive with butterflies.

"Can I walk you back tonight?" he asked.

"Sure," I said.

He smiled and walked back to the boys. I turned to the girls who were already squealing and offering advice.

"Leave your arm at your side so he can hold your hand."

"Take the long way around the field so you have more time together."

"Come up the back way and maybe he'll kiss you."

Kiss. Me. I had never been kissed before. And with a shimmery excitement I wondered if tonight would be the night.

The sky was dark when Greg approached me after evening activities and we set off. We hadn't even taken four steps when he took my hand and I could hear the other girls giggling behind us.

We took the long way and everyone was already in my cabin by the time we came up the back.

We stood, face-to-face. My stomach felt the way it does on a roller coaster during a spiraling, dizzy drop.

And then it happened.

My first kiss.

There were thuds and rustling inside the cabin and I knew my friends had been looking out the window.

And then I heard Dave Matthews start to play.

For you, for me, come crash into me.





26 comments:

  1. Oh, what a nice first kiss you had! Reading this makes me wish I'd gone to summer camp. I feel like I missed out. :) Great post!

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  2. OH, what a fun and awesome memory! Love it!

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  3. Aw, summers and first kisses! This brings it all that back!

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  4. Summers and kisses and camp. It's heaven. I have said I will work extra jobs so my kids can go to camp and have these experiences. I never did that and it sounds so fun. BOnnie bell!!!

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    1. I went to the same sleep-away camp in Northern Ontario for 12 summers, from ages 7 to 18. Those 12 summers shaped me in a way that no other experience has in my entire life. All of my most important teenage firsts happened at camp. If you have the opportunity to send your kids, I highly recommend it. There is absolutely no better way to spend a summer

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  5. So sweet! I love how you capture the exuberance of this age, and the suspense of a new experience

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  6. I could feel the anticipation, the butterflies, the whole thing. Great story!!

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  7. AWESOME first kiss. I had butterflies too...for you!!! Loved Bonnie Bell and Angel!

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  8. Ooooh, Bonnie Bell and Angel. You brought it all back so vividly. What a perfect first kiss story, beautifully told as always!

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  9. Oh my gosh, you made me so nostalgic! What a great post, you my dear are a great writer :)

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  10. Love these sweet memories of the time of life, and also of camp. Fun truth: different flavors of lip smackers INSTANTLY transport me to certain places in time. Vanilla was junior year of high school, spring. Peach was beach week. Cherry was that terrible date with the guy who was also sleeping with his manager at CVS. AT CVS. This is making me want to write a smell-inspirted blog post. :) Well-captured!

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  11. love it. so sweet and frightening and wonderful.

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  12. There is nothing in the world like your first kiss - and yours sounds like a good one! Well told!

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  13. Your first kiss was so perfect! In fact, the story was so good that I am blanking on when/with whom mine was.

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  14. Such a sweet story! So innocent.

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  15. Awww...so sweet! What a great memory.

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  16. Bonnie Bell Lip Smackers, haha!! This is such a sweet story. My first kiss was during a spin the bottle game. Not nearly as romantic!

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  17. Great story and wonderful memory I'm sure Samantha. My first kiss story is much less sweet. It involved the removal of his retainer. Uh...yeah. We won't be telling that story. lol Bonnie Bell Lip Smackers brings back memories! Strawberry flavor, my personal fave! Nice touch ending the story with the Matthews lyric.

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  18. Awww, so sweet! The Bonne Bell days of innocence...

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  19. I always wanted to go to summer camp and meet a boy....love your memory of this.

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  20. Samantha!! This was so good!
    I love Dave Mathews, so you had me hooked from the very beginning! I also spent a lot of time away at camps in the summer and agree that those weeks played a huge part in who I grew up to be.
    I adored your story. Every single detail was perfect and was so very relate-able.
    Great job!

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  21. Ohmygosh I was right there with you as I read this (not in a creepy way!) I love hearing childhood memories.......

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  22. So great, Samantha. The imagery, the details of the glitter and sparkle and youth. I was smiling while reading. :)

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  23. "We were thirteen, it was July, and summer would never be over." Sigh. That sentence sums it up so perfectly! Gorgeous story!

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  24. Camp was something else. I spent a huge chunk of time as a camper and counselor for Camp Ramah in California and did a stint in Canada too. Camp was so much fun, I miss it sometimes.

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    1. That is so funny...This story is brought to you straight from Camp Ramah in Canada, behind Cabin 32!

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