Camp Story

Climbing up a tree holding on for dear life and thinking don’t look down, don’t look down, I reach the top of the tree and hoist myself over onto blocks that I am supposed to walk across. I don’t know what to do. Fear was all around me. How am I supposed to walk across these one foot by one foot blocks with only a harness connecting me? How can I get my legs to move one more step? Right now I am about to fall off because my legs are shaking with fear. Literally they are bouncing up 3 inches with fear. I take one step onto the next block and then my harness won’t allow me to move any more. What’s going on? Is there a glitch in the system?

“Kat, Kat let me move!” I yelled out to my councilor who was holding the rope down below. But she was too busy talking about with the others. I tried one more time and even louder, “Kat, Kat let me down!” but still she did not listen.

After what seemed to be ages of waiting and franticly standing 10 feet above the ground, three girls from my cabin yell out, “Kat she’s hyperventilating!”
Even though I am not hyperventilating at the moment I am going along with the story as long as I can get down faster. Kat, my cabin leader promptly turns her head and looks at me.

“Stay calm and move to the middle block,” she directs me. And so I move slowly, carefully, just putting one foot in front of the other and making sure not to miss step. “Okay now sit like your sitting in a chair and lean back and I will gradually lower you down.”

What she expects me to just step off this platform and be okay with it. No way. Can’t I just climb down the tree the way I got up there?

“I need you to sit back and let me lower you to the ground now.”

Okay finally I prayed and then sad back hanging onto the rope for dear life and hoping I would make it to the ground safely. Running into the cabin, we all converse about how ridicules I looked up there. And it turns out the reason that I was stuck and my cabin leader was talking was about the weather and it is a good thing I got down when I did.