Thursday, November 6, 2008

Camp Greenville

I think my parents knew I got beat up a lot, when I was in junior high. They just didn't know it happened every day. They also knew that I had some behavioral problems. They put me in Boy Scouts to try and get me with some peers who wouldn't beat me up. Usually, that worked. But, I still had to go to school to get beat up. So, two summers, they sent me to camp. The camp they chose was Camp Greenville, which is located on the border of North and South Carolina in the mountains. Some kids would stay all summer at camp, but I only was there a week. The camp was sponsored by the YMCA, and it actually was very fun. I have a lot of fond memories of Camp Greenville. They have a tall waterfall there, where we could stand under it. They took us hiking, and we played football and baseball. There was one kid from Florida who could throw a baseball from the outfield and hit a stick at home plate. He had a rocket for an arm. I often wondered if he ever played in the majors. I don't remember his name, but he had a buzz cut. Once, they took us to camp overnight in tents in the woods. The next morning, the kids were talking about the mountain lion who came into the camp and clawed the tents. Apparently, it clawed our tent right by my head. I never knew it. I slept right through the excitement. In the camp, there were bunkhouses made with tin roofs. When it rained, it sounded like machine guns on the roof. I learned to sleep with a lot of noises around me. I have already discussed the vision I had at Camp Greenville of Heaven, so I won't talk about it here, but camps are very good for kids. There was a leader of the camp named Monk. He had a lot of interesting stories. One of the more interesting for me was that if you run over a snake with your car, nine times out of ten you will run over the snake's head. Why? Because the snake attacks moving things like tires. Funny how you remember things like that.

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