And they called her Bedbug

It has long been proven that smells trigger the strongest memories. After a rain the other day, I was walking outside and smelled a familiar smell. I could not immediately put my finger on it, but kept thinking and thinking about where I had encountered that smell before. Then memories started forming...it was late at night, I was walking down a white, gravel road with a girl about my age next to me, laughing hysterically. We were in flip flops, despite the puddles in the road with the water being splashed up on the backs of our calves. We were walking towards a dark lodge with only the moon light to guide us. 

It was the same smell that lingered at camp after a rain and my brain was flooded with memories, most of them including my partner in crime, a girl better known as Bedbug(named from a song, not promiscuous activities).

You see, during my summers in college, I worked at this great camp for kids that was pretty secluded down a gravel road and all the roads and paths in camp were gravel or dirt. My last two summers there, I was the assistant director. This meant that I got upgraded to living in an 8x10 foot tar paper shanty(loving called "The Hut") that had electricity! Don't kid yourself into thinking it had a bathroom or running water, though. Oh, and I got to share The Hut with Bedbug. We had two cots and a small shelving unit. We had to be careful where we put our cots or they would go through the wood floor(there was also a very nice woodchuck that lived under that floor that liked to wake us up at 4am). All of our clothes were stored in Rubbermaid containers to keep the nice mice out. They were two of the most fun summers of my life. Full of constant pranks between our amazing boss, the Bug and other counselors. 

The memory of Bug and I walking up to the lodge late at night made me smile as I walked down the street, in a big city, hundreds of miles from the rural camp we called home for 9 weeks every summer. A place that greatly shaped who I am today and brought me one of my best friends and a former boss who is also a great friend and mentor.