If someone blogs in the forest....

If I had to make a list of the top five things in my life that have shaped the person I am today, number one or two would definitely be "sleepaway camp."

From the time I was 11 until I was 17, I spent eight weeks every summer at Pierce Camp Birchmont in Wolfeboro, New Hampshire, a co-ed overnight camp that offered everything from sports to swimming to fast boys from Long Island and the closest girlfriends I ever had growing up, or at least until I went off to college.

Some of my best memories are from that camp and the friendships that grew out of it, and at least once a year, usually around May, I'll have a dream that I have suddenly decided to go back for one final summer as a camp counselor. Usually, in the dream, I'll be packing and suddenly realize, hey wait, I forgot to quit my job and they are expecting me there this summer! Or, what was I thinking wanting to sleep in a bunk bed when I have this great apartment back home! Can I at least get a sublet?

Last night, though, the dream took a different turn. I was packing with my friend Rachel, and I suddenly realized, wait, would I be able to BLOG from camp?! Because surely I couldn't go eight weeks without blogging! I was trying to ask Rachel if computer clusters had been installed at camp since the last time I was there (1993) and she was avoiding the question, telling me that she would bring her laptop with her in case I wanted to use it. But will we have wireless access all the way up in the woods, I asked?

She didn't know, and I suddenly began to dread my decision to return after all these years.