Instead of Crying, I Laughed

My whole life, I have spent every summer at my camp in Winthrop. Home away from home. Though there was one summer that wasn’t very pleasant for me, and I wished I didn’t have to spend time there that camping season.

This was when I was still in middle school, and my campground was filled with other kids around my age. I’ve always been more on the reserved side. Enjoying my solitude, spending time doing my own thing. But at such a young age you can’t help but want to fit in. A clique of kids ended up forming, who for whatever reason, decided to pick on me.

I would love to ride my bike around the roads that looped together. I vividly remember that group blocking the road just so I’d have to stop, and make fun of me. At this time things like this really hurt me. I was afraid to ride my bike after that. I didn’t want to go to the game room where they all hung out, because if I did, they would get up and leave as soon as I got there. Or go to the pool and they all show up. They would hang out right by my site just to get my attention. Be loud and obnoxious like middle schoolers typically are. Go boating and tubing so they could rub it in my face. They even started to mention my mom in arguments, which got to me the most out of any of these things. Telling me things like, “your mom is annoying so nobody likes her” and putting me down by telling me “you don’t get to go out tubing with all of us”. I also remember that there was another Taylor who camped with me, and since she was older, I was told “she was here first so she belongs here and not you”. I wouldn’t say anything back to them.

But my mom told me the best way to get them to stop was to laught it off. If they don’t get the reaction they want, they would more than likely give up. Back a few years ago, when this was happening, it was hard to do that! When something hurts, its hard to just laugh at it.

Eventually, those who lead the pack ended up leaving the campground. I didn’t have to deal with that anymore! We all grew up. And my ability to laugh at this know shows the growth I’ve made since then.

As of today, I look back on this, with some of these same kids who happen to be my friends now. Even when coming up with this story, I laughed alongside my mom at it. Also from experiencing this back then, I can now use it to remember how to cope with bullying. It is important to see how experiences like this become trivial.

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