Camp Twin Lakes XVI

A little over Twitch and Shout left, I still have a lot of vocal tics. It's fine being at camp, but it would be difficult at school. It's a little strange, most of the staff forget when I didn't have vocal tics - kind of a strange play in identity!

This past week was absolutely amazing. The camp was dedicated for kids affected and infected by HIV. I didn't realize how much people with HIV have to hide - in fact, this was one of the only camps that is openly HIV, many others operate in secrecy. The large majority of the camp were inner city kids from Atlanta. I was a little worried about how the kids would react to being in the woods and to camp in general, but it couldn't have been better.

The kids and the counselors were an amazingly cohesive group. I knew all of the counselors name within the first day (never happens) and the kids immediately identified with the counselors and gave them respect. The kids treated each other like family, encouraging each other to try new things and enjoy every minute of camp.

Many of the campers were wary of my tics at first, but during opening ceremonies I got on stage and gave an explanation of my Tourette's. I always do my best to not parallel my Tourette's with whatever special need they might be at camp for (in this case, HIV). All though it might be a common thread to share, I have no idea what they've been through and if it really can be compared. I'd much rather them make that connection on their own. With that in mind, once I explained about my Tourette's the campers took to my Tourette's in a great way. The younger ones used my tics as a greeting to me and to each other, and even started affectionately calling me "Tip," my most common tic at the time. The older ones asked me questions, and even told me about friends and family members who have Tourette's. In fact, one of the kids in my cabin had Tourette's and I didn't find out until the last day. He was beaming when I asked him about it!

Camp is amazing.