This was an essay that I wrote for an English class; Dedicated to the one I love Bradly Hays There are many camping trips that stick out in my mind simply because I enjoy to camp. For instance, my first backpacking trip with Boy Scouts in Lassen National Park, and my very first Boy scout Camporee ( Competition ). Although as my experiences have grown I have had my share of occasions that were memorable for reasons other than pleasure. One of the less pleasant was a camp out that we got rained out and had to go home. Another memorable trip was the one my mom’s Girl Scout troop took. This is were I would meet a very special person , my girlfriend. The trip was to Loafer Creek and it was a Girl Scout Camporee. Judging from experiences that I have had in Boy Scouts, I expected to see tents set up in horse shoe shaped arrangements and they would be in a field. To my dismay I couldn’t see one troop when we arrived. The campsite we were in was laid out on a hillside that was very steep. We began to scout a site for the troop’s tent and discovered that the campsite was inhabited by another troop, although they were older. This troop had taken up most of the Northern end of the site, but had left enough room for us to take the Southern end. We ended up setting up in the northwestern corner of the camp which was up the hill to a plateau. After we had put up the tent, one of my assistant scout masters , who was also the father of one of the girl scouts, brought a canopy that we set up. When it was unloaded, the other troop came down to help put it together. As I would find out later, these girls were about the same age as I was ( classified as Cadets in Girl Scouts), which accounted for the flirtatious character that started when we constructing the canopy. Being the most experienced, and because I wanted to be in charge, I was in control of giving directions to set up the canopy. With every direction I would have to demonstrate then go around and help all the girls helping. It seemed like no one knew what I was talking about so I ended up giving individual directions. To make sure that they could see what I was doing when I demonstrated , I stood next to or behind the girl I was helping and instructed them. That night we had a campfire in our site, and, of course, the Cadet troop joined us because it was there site too. We all gathered around the little campfire ring and began to roast marshmallows and smores, or at least we tried. When we tried to put the marshmallow and chocolate between the gram crackers and warm them we almost burnt ourselves. The Cadets were watching me the whole time, but one in particular stared more than the others. She was average height for a girl of twelve, and she had long blonde hair that she kept in a pony tale the majority of the weekend. She wore teal colored glasses, pants , a baggy T-shirt, and she looked the oldest out of the troop. The other girls ranged from very skinny , to the point that they reminded me of toothpicks, or they were just weird. As the night went on we laughed and talked until we had to go to bed. The next day began with breakfast and the girls going off to ‘stations’, which included, yarn-doll making and diary making to name a few. When I finally got to talk to the Cadets again they told me how stupid the station were. For instance, the "diaries" were made of construction paper and yarn, with holes to tie the yarn to. As the day trudged on everyone was showing signs of boredom, and lack of interest. The cadets were the most prominent in this, because they came back and talked with me for a while. But I guess that was good, because it was time to go swimming, and I couldn’t wait. After playing tag for a while one of the older Girl Scout leaders told me that if I wanted to swim I had to go to another area. I got out of the area that was reserved for the Girl Scouts, and went to the area that I was told to. To my pleasant surprise the girls followed me to the other area, and we continued our game for a while. In a few minutes the leader that told me to move came back and said that I was breaking the rules, because the girls weren’t suppose to be in the area that I’d had to go to, and since I was playing with them I was the one at fault. The cadets and I decided that we had had enough of the leader and got out of the water to head back to camp. We returned to camp and changed into dry clothes, and began to talk about how stupid that the leader was. We had seen a trail that led out of our camp, so we decided to see where it went, and follow it. The trail went up the hill just behind our tents. The cadets, mainly the blonde girl, lead for a while then, when we started back, I lead the way. The entire time we talked and laughed about anything we could think about. I thought this was great, because it was the first time girls had actually talked with me.When we returned we found that the leaders were mad at us. A group of girls and a guy by themselves wasn’t at all a good idea according to one of the leaders. I was beginning to think that the leaders were out to get me. Later that night, after the camp wide campfire, everyone was in their tent, when the Cadet's started to yell, "Goodnight Bradly", They said in a long drawn out girl way. I replied with a, "Good night Cadet's". After a couple times the Brownies started in, and this is where my Mom ended it with a, "GOODNIGHT CADET'S" in a forceful tone.I felt embarrassed at the time, but not as much as my girlfriend would later. We would make fun of each other, over this, for a long time, seeing that she was the one to start it. In the morning we packed up and started home. I said goodbye to the girls and we all went home. In about a week, I got a letter from a Jessica Brightwell whom I didn’t know. When I opened the letter, it said, "You probably don’t remember me, but I am that girl at Girl Scout camp that wore glasses, oh and I got your address from Teresa Muir". It surprised me that she wrote; I’d never received a letter from a girl. So I wrote back and we began writing back and forth.Then after a while, I began to be bogged down by school, and I couldn’t write to her. So I got several letters from her that I never replied to. When the next few years came, we hadn’t been in touch at all and I had all but forgotten about Jessica. Two years later, I attended a band camp to catch up on the skills we were required to know. A lot of my friends were there, but something else. A girl tried to avoid me and avoided eye contact, to the point that it was obvious. When I came around her she would put her head down bashfully and walk away. I thought this was really weird, because she looked familiar, but I couldn’t remember from where. That night, I decided to look through some old pictures. Then out of the blue, it hit me, "Jessica". I hadn’t recognized her because she had cut her hair short and didn’t have her glasses on. Another thing that caught my eye were her clothes, she wore tighter, shorter clothes. Since we were in different sections, skit night came around ,and she and I still hadn’t spoken. When our Director told us to get skits made up, naturally I went over to one of my friends that I’d been in Scouts with to see if he wanted to do some. While I was there, Jessica came over to asked if the Smurf song had any words and I said, "No, there aren’t any words, Jessica." At that instant her eyes opened wide as she blushed and left. Later I would find out that she went hysterical when I said her name. She thought I’d forgotten her, and as I look back at that, I remember getting butterflies in my stomach when I said her name or even thought of her. On the first day of school, I planned to give her a letter that I had written to her . The letter answered the questions from the letters I didn’t reply to, that I’d kept. I passed her going to class and handed her my letter. To my surprise, she had a letter for me too. Essentially she asked if we could be friends. I wrote back with a yes, because I still liked her and I wanted to get to know her better. After two months together we made it "official", and said we were going out. It was very exiting and emotional. Two years later, we are still together. Over these two years we have learned a lot about each other. We have seen quirks that we have like, being over dominating and eating habits; they are not just her. We are planning to get married in a couple years. If I hadn’t gone to the dreaded Girl Scout camp with my mom I wouldn’t have gotten the chance to meet the love of my life in a carefree environment. I would have missed out on the center of my love and wouldn’t have known it. In the past few years we have written to each other through letters extensively and learned a great deal about each other in the process. With the understanding that we both have of each other we are able to see things about ourselves too. Even though some people see monogamous relationships as bad, especially at my age, I am content. Some people say I should "play the field", and not get attached to one person. I disagree, because this one person has shown me love that, I feel, deserves my love in return. I am truly in love with Jessica, and that love has made me realize how the world can be. Sometimes cruel, like the girl scout leader and other times sweet and new, like the butterflies in my stomach. This love has also caused me to mature in love. From a "puppy dog" love to "head over heals" in love. 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