I had no idea what to expect. Walking into the Henry Kaufman campground, all I knew was that this was a service on Shabbat, a day of the week that I never really observed. Even though I didn’t know any of the prayers, or who Happy and Hunker were, I felt at home pretty much instantly. I swayed with the chapter I soon belonged to and ate penne ala vodka with some faces I still can’t recognize. It was something so special that I hadn’t known that I needed. The feeling I got was something I hadn’t felt in the month since I last stepped foot at Camp Silver Lake.

Realizing Summer 2019 was my last summer at camp was immensely difficult. I was giving up a home, one where I had my best friends and my best memories. Over my five years, it had become a safe haven, for it allowed me to get away from the stresses of at-home life. But I knew that being a waitress would tarnish my sparkly memories of a place I love so much. I couldn’t let myself have an experience I knew I wouldn’t like just so I could try and hold onto those golden summers for a little while longer.

That loss of home made it so easy to find a new home in BBYO. I was lost, looking for something to latch onto, something that would provide me with best friends, an escape from home, sometimes horrible food, and a Jewish outlet.

BBYO has been a rock for me over the last year and a half. Even when nothing was happening, and everyone was physically alone, BBYO continued on. They were there in a way that no sleepaway camp, college class, or summer activity could be. It became a home in my actual home, turning a zoom link into so much more.

As we move back into in-person programming on Long Island, I am reminded once again of what these intense moments of HOME are like; when I split mac and cheese with a friend; when I take a bow at the end of a movie simply because it had my name in it; when I take pictures to capture every moment of happiness. It’s a good feeling, and BBYO brings that to me and so many others.

This summer I get to attend my first in-person BBYO summer program. I am BEYOND excited to spend my summer in a place that already feels like home. Summer camp, clearly, has been a huge part of my life, and having a home to go to this summer is beyond exciting.

I’ll always miss Camp Silver Lake. That place, those people, my memories, will always have a huge slice of my heart. I’ll always have my best friends, those with whom I spent some of my best summers. But because of BBYO, the ache is gone. BBYO gave me a year-round home that was there through the best and worst of times, one in which I couldn’t survive without. Both places are home to me and have made me a better person. I know, someday, that I’ll have to leave BBYO; blow out my flame, and hand my clothes over. BBYO has given me the knowledge that even when I have to shut the best doors, even brighter new ones will open, and the old ones will still let me take a peek inside.