The Day the Waves Came

Author's Note: This piece is about my experience at my confirmation camp this summer. It is written as a memoir.

Floating in the middle of the lake. There was no better place to be at that moment. I was at my church's confirmation camp about two hours away from my house. It was recreation time, and me and my friend Sarah decided to swim out to the raft.

We jumped off, swam back to the ladder, and then jumped off again.  I felt like I could touch the bottom of the lake! Following one skillful pencil dive, I came up for a gasp of air and flashed Sarah a grin from ear to ear. Suddenly, I heard a shriek and turned around to see Sarah gripping the side of the raft, which was completely tilted to one side. My instincts kicked in and I began swimming desperately to the raft, where I wasn't threatened by massive waves trying to tumble over me. Each time I took a struggling push towards the ladder, I was thrown even farther away. Eventually, I just let the waves take me, giving a small paddle upwards each surge to keep my head above water.

Once the waves subdued, I attempted to climb up onto the raft, but the waves had jarred the ladder. One of the steps turned and my shin banged into the edge of the raft. "Owww, really?" I said, "What is this, the ocean?"

After finally getting myself onto the raft, I examined my leg. Where the impact had occurred, a faint purple mark was seeping out from under my skin. Hmm… fast,  I thought. However, there was nothing that could discourage me at that moment, being out there in the waves was like being on the world's biggest rollercoaster! Up the ladder I went, one more time, and I collapsed onto the wooden platform, having already exhausted myself. Although, I knew I would eventually recover, in the moment, I thought, "How am I going to make it back to shore?"

I never understood why my mom always said, "We aren't doing anything today, I just want to get out of the hustle and bustle." Now I completely understand. Being out on the raft was amazing, staring up at the puffy clouds, away from all the chaos on the water trampoline. We were on our own, we could do anything we want, we didn't have to worry about a care in the world.

Quite a while passed before another boat sped by. Eventually though; one did. Sarah and I took one glance at each other and simultaneously jumped off the raft with our life jackets. Once again, we floated in the water being tossed around by expansive waves. After a seemingly endless amount of time, the waves stopped and in great disappointment we swam slowly back to the raft. This time, I watched my step, but the waves had jarred the ladder again and I banged my shin in the same spot. "Oww, again?" I said.

After this, several more of our friends came out onto the raft after they saw how much fun we were having. This took away a little bit of the serenity we had before, but added more craziness. The daredevils that had been hidden inside of us for years came out as we attempted 360 twists, flips, and all sorts of cool tricks off the platform. None of this was as fun as the waves though.

Eventually we got bored of the same tricks. We sat down and told them about all the fun we had when the waves came, then spent the next twenty minutes trying to desperately call speedboats and jet skis over near us. After what seemed like an eternity, a speedboat lugging tubers behind it sped by. Racing into action, we jumped off the raft and we each got in our own spot to await the thrill.

For one last time, the waves came and entertained us for the time being.

Continuous motions of...

UP

DOWN

UP

DOWN

… began to make us somewhat seasick, but nothing could take the fun out of that moment.

All too soon, the waves stopped, leaving us stranded in the middle of the lake. As we started swimming back to the raft, the whistle blew. In great regret, we all swam back to shore, wanting nothing more than to go back out on that raft and do it all again.

Now that I look back upon that moment, I realize that I'm so thankful for that experience to be my lasting memory of camp. It was my last year at confirmation camp, and I wanted to remember it as something life-changing. This memory allows me to always think of that camp as a wonderful experience that I would do again in a heartbeat.