Three great lessons I learned at camp
Just the other day I was making a glass of chocolate milk for my three-year-old son. I remarked to my husband that chocolate milk always takes me back to my time as a camper at Heart O’ the Hills. After a fun-filled day, campers would line up in the milk line according to their preference (chocolate or white) and then walk back to their cabins drinking cold milk underneath the Texas stars. What sweet memories!
It’s funny how something so small can still jog your memory 20 years after the experience. Yet when I really stop and think about it, I realize my time as a camper at HOH has left many more impressions (much more significant than chocolate milk).
Courage
You see, the act of courage it took to say goodbye to my family that first summer would play itself out again on the steps of my freshman dorm as I waved goodbye to my parents. Except this time it was a little bit easier.
Determination
And the determination required to compete in war canoe would be the same determination needed to persevere through my first “real” job.
Making and keeping friends
And the practice of making new friends and keeping old ones would be the same set of skills I would need when my husband and I moved to a new city and had to find new community.
My time as a camper at HOH not only gave me memories as sweet as chocolate milk, but it prepared me for life!
Laura (Furr) Herrera
Editor’s note:
Laura managed to make her mark at The Heart in just four summers—and they were non-consecutive! Coming to camp from Missouri, she was the recipient of our Jo Jones Memorial Sportsmanship Award for First Term 2000, went on to graduate from Baylor and is a current educator at SMU in Dallas, Texas. She is also a wife and mother of two toddlers, Briggs and Liv.