Camp Communication 2.0

I remember the plan. 

Step 1: The Letter

Use my favorite turquoise blue pen to ink a note to my best friend on the colored stationary I brought home from camp.  No letter was complete without some envelope doodles and Lisa Frank stickers.  The crucial part of the letter was to set the date and time for the phone call.

Step 2: The Call

Drag my ten foot phone cord into my room, slide it under the door away from potential eavesdroppers, and wait for the ring. The adventure of getting ready for the call was almost as exciting as the shrill bell. No matter what was going on at school or home, I was about to connect to "the friend."  That off white corded beauty transported me back to my bunk bed to lay awake telling stories, laugh with my friend, and feel comfortable in my own skin.

Step 3: The Consequences

Who could put a time limit on such an experience? We had so many things to discuss and debate. But the laughs were my favorite. This was the real friend laugh.  The ugly one with occasional snorts and spitting, the kind that overpowered the need to worry about what others.

My parents, however, had a different view of the experience.  To be fair, that view was the monthly phone bill. I knew the billing cycle and timed my calls accordingly.  All sleepovers and material requests completed in week one or two and Doom's Day was week four. But the extra chores were totally worth it.  By extra chores, I mean grass edged with a butter knife. 

How technology has changed my little world.  The constant bombardment of instant electronic communication has changed my lifestyle for the better. The internet allows me to reconnect with so many Falcon friends that my phone bill would not have previously allowed. A girl can only edge so much grass!  

Yet I credit the ability to reconnect with these camp friends to the unplugged Falcon experience. Falcon friendships are forged in the endless conversations, adventures, and mishaps that we shared together in our safe and sheltered home in the woods.  Experiences that extend far beyond a screen that taught us to embrace living and working together on the good and not to good days.  

I appreciate technology.  But I cherish the social foundation and lifelong friendships created at Falcon.