“Please Momma, please don’t leave me here.” These were the last words I said to her as she walked out the door. I was terrified, being only nine all alone in such a populated place, where everyone seemed to know the flow of things except me. See those words that I meant with my entire being would soon be words I would regret ever saying. Little did I know this experience would change my life forever. The feelings I felt made this seem like my mom was forcing me to go to some horrible place that no child would ever want to go, but this was the complete opposite. This is heaven on earth for hundreds of children every summer with Type One Diabetes and, if they wished, a sibling without diabetes could join them in this marvelous palace. Inside the gates of a summer camp called Camp Sweeney it is truly a palace, but at the age of nine and never being away for more than three days let alone three weeks it did not resemble a palace in any element.
It was late July when my family and I made our journey to Camp Sweeney for the very first time. A three hour car ride, many bathroom stops, snack stops, and a few naps later we arrived at the gates of camp. The trail we traveled down was over grown with leafy trees, bushes, and tall wild grass, but at the end there were two brick columns joined at the top with the words Camp Sweeney at a slight arch, and at the bottom there was a green automatic gate that was opened for the campers to come in freely. Once we entered the gates there was an enormous soccer field. The grass on the field sparkled in the sun from the sprinklers misting the field. Just passed the soccer field there was a state of the art gymnasium with a sign reading “Camper check-in starts here.” The car came to a soft halt. “WE ARE HEERRREE!!” Momma exclaimed. The doors unlocked, palms sweaty I reached for the door and took in a deep breath. As I opened the door the fresh air swept in our car just like water from a hurricane would do. I stretched out my little short leg out on to the nice, hot, asphalt finally, solid ground, I thought to myself. You could hear the heat sizzling on the asphalt the hot Texas sun was hard at work.
At the entrance to the gymnasium there were two camp counselors that greeted each camper as if they had known them their entire life. The cool air conditioning hit my face reliving the sweat from my skin. The gym was filled with huge smiles, laughs, jokes, and love from all of the campers. Check in consisted of long, never-ending lines for campers to receive their folder that would tell what cabin they were in along with their medical information. My feet tingling, my knees aching, my back hurting , my mouth dry, finally I hear a calm, cheerful voice say “Hey what’s your name?” My mom replied for me: “Cassidy.” The calm voice: “Here!” She handed my mom a light pink folder on the outside it said my name along with Bonner Cabin. The helpful lady told us how to get to the cabins. We followed her every word. We hurried back to the car with excitement in the air. The drive to the girl’s cabin was simple and fast. We passed a playground, swing set, and the best one yet the swimming pools. Just beyond the pools there my cabin was.
I quickly got out of the car with my pillow in one hand and a small bag in another. I nervously shut the door. I admired my mother as she slowly got out of the car, thinking what I was going to do without her for three weeks. “HEY! I’m Kat what’s your name?” “Cassidy...” I replied in a shy, bashful voice. “That means I’m your big sister this session!” I smiled but remained silent unsure what to say. I just looked at her asking with only my eyes what I was supposed to do next. “Right this way let me show you your new home for the next three weeks.” Cautiously following her, unsure what was in store for me. We entered the cabin. Speechless I looked around. Everything in sight was rosy pink, the tile, the decoration of rosy balloons and streamers. Just as I thought the cabin couldn’t get better I saw the gigantic television.
“Here is your bed Cassidy”, Kat said. It was a bottom bunk, very happy I sat down in relief. Was I sitting on bricks…Maybe cement…Wood…? No none of those it was my bed. “Oh great”, I thought to myself, I would never be able to fall asleep at night. Luckily my mom had brought some egg shell crates to help soften the bed. Once my mom and Kat finished making my bed, my mom looked at me and said, “Well Sister… I think this is it…” She reached her arms out for a hug. I wrapped my arms as tight as I could around my mother’s waist. My vision began to blur, heart began to beat fast, panic set in. Momma looked at me and said she would email and write me letters and I would have so much fun. Slowly pulling away she wiped my tears. Squeezing her hand as tight as I could, I looked up at her “Please Momma, please don’t leave me here.” She looked back at me and said, I love you, and kept walking. Kat pulled me close to her, slowly setting me down on my bed. She pulled out some playing cards and explained to me that this camp would change my life. I thought ,yeah, right. Just then a girl name Heather came and started talking to me about where I was from and what I like to do in my spare time. Something inside me clicked that I was going to be okay at this place. From that moment on everything was history.
Heather was the first friend I made at camp and I still talk to her frequently. She has shown me that it is okay to be who I am. She helped me realize that there is no need for me to be so shy. Thanks to her I have become a better person even though I still am shy, I am now comfortable being able to speak to people a little easier. Heather taught me that having diabetes is not a disability but more of a blessing in disguise. If my mother had never sent me to Camp Sweeney I do not know where I would be today with me being so shy or my diabetes. I also would not have spent the past nine summers going to camp for not just three but doubling my time to six weeks during the summer. The skills I have learned at Camp Sweeney have made me into a better diabetic, learning easier and more efficient ways to control my diabetes. If it was not for this camp and for the friends like Heather I know I would have given up on taking care of my diabetes a long time ago. I also know I would not be here today if it was not for the friendships I created while attending this marvelous palace called Camp Sweeney. As the camps motto states Camp Sweeney is a place “Where friendship begins, and never ends.”