You turn onto a steep windy road covered on both sides by
tall thick pine trees. You quickly roll down the windows and everyone sticks
their heads out to breathe in the cool sweet mountain air. Then your car hits a
gravel road, everyone’s attend turns to the gates ahead that slowly open into
the greatest place on earth: Camp Kahdalea. As your car slows to a stop you
notice all of the charming red cabins up on hill tops overlooking the green
grassy fields and the stream that runs through the base of camp. As you step
out of the car you are welcomed once again with the fresh smell of mountain
area and the sound of the Kahdalea stream running steadily to the forest below
camp.
Camp Kahdalea is the place I grew up. I may have only attended
camp for four summers, but those summers converted me into who I am. It is
partly the breath taking scenery that attributes to this, but mostly the
wonderfully faith filled campers, counselors, and camp directors. There is
seemingly nothing extraordinary about Kahdalea just the normal structure of a
summer camp: cabins, a dining hall, tennis courts, archery fields, and swimming
hole. But it is in these ordinary places that the extraordinary takes
place. The extraordinary acts of
kindness, love, and faith. It was in this valley that I learned how to love, be
kind, and be a Catholic. Even though I have not been to Kahdalea in three summers, along with hundreds of other girls we call it a place of our own.
