The Summer Camp Incident

I have made mistakes, a lot of them. Some could be considered accidents, but many were 100% my fault. Everyone makes mistakes at some point in their life, and although some may be extreme, no one is perfect, as cliche as that statement is.

In my young days, being 4-6 years old, I started the hobby of riding horses. I was a cute little girl who always started out the window passing horses. When my mom signed me up for Horseback Riding, I was so excited. Some people would consider this a sport for them, but being a little girl who was most interested in the trail rides and that’s it, I would say it was just for fun.

After a short time, I knew I loved riding horses, so I decided to go in the summer. It had a big stable, and lots of land that was filled with trees, and I remember all my days were sunny there. This camp was joyful, but being six at the time, I was the youngest one there, which made it hard to socialize. I talked to the horses and the instructor. The instructor also never had much to say and was not very friendly. When people say horses are mean, just wait till you meet my instructor! There were also the other girls who went to camp with me. At first, they were nice, treating me like the new girl at school. “Oh my god, you are SO cute!” or “Wow, I just love you!” There was the instructor’s daughter, named Julia, who was nicer than her mom, and her friend, who had long blonde hair (that was all I knew about her really). However, once I started going there every day, they got bored of me. When I did interact with the older girls, they were nice enough, and looking back now, I understand why they didn’t include me in a lot of things. At the time though, they were my arch nemesis.

They would sometimes say, “Hey Julia.”, in a mundane voice, signaling they wanted nothing to do with me.

And I would say, “Hi!”

I was gloomy, and feeling lonely. They would walk away and carry on with whatever task they were doing for the horses. They never asked me about my other hobbies, or how my day was. All I could feel was sad. Although, riding horses kept my mind off it, so did the activities we would do.

One day at horse camp, after doing all the chores, the instructor told us to put on our bathing suits and we could swim! This was a dream come true, considering her pool was a gigantic inground one. Then I realized, I didn’t bring my bathing suit. The trainer told me “I couldn’t go in the pool because I didn’t have a change of clothes”, and I was furious. I had a full day of sweat from chores, jeans, and a long sleeve, and it was one of the hottest days of the summer yet! I watched the older kids swim laps in this incredible pool, while I was sweating, with my toes twinkling in the water. I had an idea though. I decided when the girls and trainers weren’t looking, I would jump in the pool. So I did. I got about 2 doggy paddles in until the instructor’s daughter and friend noticed and yelled to their mom.

I soon regretted that mistake. She was very angry since I disobeyed her very clear instructions to “not go in the pool”.

She kept telling me that I made a “very bad mistake”. The instructor was angry, and I knew it.

I kept softly saying, “I’m sorry! I just wanted to go swimming”.

I was scared of her at the time, a little embarrassed, and most of all, raging at the older girls for tattle-tailing on me.

That night I told my parents what had happened, and they made me call her to tell her I was very sorry. Shortly after this incident, I stopped going altogether. My parents were upset at the time, but also understood why I went in. What kind of instructor doesn’t tell the kid to bring a bathing suit to swim?! Of course, I felt bad, and I was taught a valuable lesson throughout this mess. I tried my hardest growing up after that to always be prepared. I always tried to bring my bathing suit to anywhere I was going with water, and that way, I never got in trouble again like that. Because of this mistake, I was embarrassed going back and didn’t enjoy riding as much as I did before, leading me to stop going. The moral of the story: bring a bathing suit.

“Horse” by kulmalukko is licensed under CC BY 2.0.