Stories - Matt Langdon

Last week I asked a question: ”Please share a story about a time when you got to see a camper or client after their time at camp or your program.”  This story is a repost from one of our writers.

My first cabin. Courtney.

I had the worst cabin of the first week. I didn’t give it that distinction, everyone else did. I wouldn’t have known what a good or bad cabin was in the first week.

Courtney was the ringleader. He was the first African-American kid I’d ever talked to as I am Australian. I had no idea about his culture, background, anything. And he knew it.

He also found great mirth in the fact that I didn’t pronounce the R in his name. So any time I tried to talk to him for his behaviour he just laughed. As did the rest of the cabin. Obviously Courtney went down in the Hall of Fame for me. For all the wrong reasons.

Then three years later I saw him in the mall and he recognized me instantly and ran over to say hi. He showed me off to his mum and friends because I was his favourite counselor ever. What? That chance visit told me everything I needed to know for the rest of my camping career.