Best Friends Since We Were 10…Tripp Lake Sisters Forever
Dear Tripp Lake Families,
We couldn’t resist sharing this wonderful story!
I’m a legacy girl. Yep, my grandmother, Helen Levy Fluegelman started camp around 1920 and was Climber Captain. (See photo and look for two girls sitting and facing each other, one is Helen and the other is her sister.) Then, my mom, Joan Fluegelman Wexler went to camp from 1942-48 and was Cub Captain. (I am holding her shield in the lodge.)
I attended TLC from 1965-1971 and was Giant Song Leader and then Tiger Captain. Those are just the dates and facts. The rest is memory and what has stuck with me, over all of these years. (I am in the Team photo on the far left dressed as a Tiger.)
I’m still best friends with Margie Robinson Williams, (see photo above taken last week at Tripp). We met at camp when we were 10 years old and we just visited camp together a week ago. It was such an amazing day. We got to meet so many girls, and they all wanted to know, “Has camp changed? Is this the way it was when you were here?” Girls greeted us everywhere: in the Silver shop, at a Tigers’ song practice (we were cheered!), at cookie line (Sugar), and we were invited to see the beginnings of the Team Feast backdrops (our lips are sealed).
Everywhere we went, everyone was smiling, hugging, giggling, hanging out together, and it made me instantly remember what it felt like to BE at camp. I can remember laughing about dozens of different things every day. I can remember riding/swimming/practicing for Sing Song/playing tennis and doing it all with friends, all day long. I can remember hanging out in our bunks and wrapping our hair in orange juice cans with Dippity-Do. I can remember listening to Carol King (Tapestry) and James Taylor (You’ve Got a Friend) in Kitty Car, the summer they came out, and singing along at the tops of our lungs. I can remember all of the personal and oh-so-important stories that I shared with girls who knew so much about me, and about whom I knew so much.
And, in the beginning of each summer, didn’t summer seem endless?
In all of the years since, I have known how much camp has meant to me. But, it wasn’t until I went back to camp that it all came flooding back and I could place so many wonderful memories. “For you girls belong to Tripp Lake and Tripp Lake belongs to you.” I really do know the meaning of this song. Laurie Wexler Stolowitz
