We have our very first guest bloggers today! Mollie Berner and Julia Siegal decided to write about why the other loves camp.

From Julia:

Mollie Berner, my best friend for the last nine years and the first friend I made at Perlman Camp, has a love for camp unlike anyone I have ever met. I have spent many hours, many nights and long days, car rides, airplane rides, GA’s, bunk clean ups and OD’s, pondering how Mollie Berner has come to love camp so much? The following is what I have come up with.

It could be the lessons that Mollie once learned as a camper that she has now been able to pass on as a counselor. Lessons like, no gossiping. Ever since we were 13 Mollie and I have always been honest with each other about everything, even if it meant telling your best friend that her beloved denim capris were no longer in style. Maybe it’s the importance of trying something new? As campers we may not have been part of the most athletic bunk, but everyone joined the team so that we all could play. Now, Mollie, as a former lacrosse specialist, has been able to build the program from nothing into one of the most popular sports at Perlman because of her ability to inspire campers to try something new. But Mollie’s love for camp could also spur from the many aspects of Perlman that are unique. Like when we got mud in our ears on mud day and spent the day in the infirmary. Or the countless Shabbat-o-grams that we have saved from each other over the years. Or the fact that we still run to the front of song session so that we can hear every single word of cherry berry bomb. But What I really think is the heart and soul of Mollie Berner’s love for Perlman, is the amazing friendships she has made that have stood the test of time, wayne county sports games, cherry berry bombs, mud days, failed camp fires, lost maccabiahs, ten months apart a year, and nine full years. Perlman has brought Mollie many people from all over the world into her life that she not only calls her best friends, but family too. I am proud to be one of these people, which is how I know that Perlman teaches you the value of relationships and the importance of finding the best friends in the world, friends you made at camp, friends like Mollie Berner.

From Mollie:
“I love you as much as you love camp… And that’s a lot”.

What’s it mean to love camp? I always see this statement written on Julia’s Facebook and I know that it’s true… I know she loves Perlman more than just about anything in the world. But why is that?

Everybody has their reasons for why Perlman holds such a special place in their hearts. Is it because you find your best friends at Perlman?
Is it because you fall in love at Perlman? Is it because you find yourself at Perlman?

Whatever it may be, we all keep going back. We keep going back to be together, to live our summers at home.

Julia and I are no different and aren’t any more special than the rest. We were two thirteen year olds who met on the first day of camp by girls flagpole and the rest is history. If you asked us why we love camp so much, why people say to us “I love you as much as you love camp, and that’s a lot”, I don’t think we could give you a straight answer.

Camp is our lives. We’ve grown up with it and cherished it for so many summers now that we couldn’t imagine our lives without it…our friendship without it. Camp is us.

Thanks for joining us at The Canteen Corner!l Look out for our big monthly post next week, and  send an email to info@perlmancamp if you have any news, articles or photos you want us to include.