My Constants

                My life is constantly changing around me with new people, new problems, and new situations every day. However, there are things that I know for sure that will not change, and they are the bracelets that I wear around my wrist everyday. Each bracelet has and meaning and memory of its own that reminds me every time I look down at my hand. The bracelets are a variety of types such as silly bands, hemp, friendship bracelets, and a watch. I could write forever about all of my bracelets, so I will only focus on the sillybands.

                My first bracelet is a pink, glow in the dark, sea star silly band. It was the first thing I ever received from the camp I attend, Camp Johnsonburg. I was working in the pool assisting the lifeguards when a little camper came up to me and gave me this silly band. I asked around to other campers to see if anyone had lost one but no one responded, so onto my wrist it went. Before this event I thought that silly bands were stupid, flimsy pieces of rubber and a ridiculous waste of money without any use other than to start fights among small children. Now, I have three different ones that would make me cry if I ever lost one.

                The second bracelet is a blue, glow in the dark, canoe shaped silly band that was given to me by my LT sister Julie Wallwork after a “tragic” even happened. It was during the first week of out LT summer together when Julie took off all her sillybands to go into the pool and gave them to the lifeguard for safe keeping. The lifeguard put them in his pocket with a camper’s sillybands without realizing. What happened was the camper went back to the lifeguard for his sillybands, but instead of just giving the camper his own sillybands he gave him all of the sillybands including Julie’s. She only had around six but they all meant something different and were special to her nonetheless. The lifeguard was upset that he messed up big time so to make it up to Julie he went out to a store during the weekend when staff had off and bought her a twenty-four pack of glow in the dark, camp themed sillybands. Julie was very happy that he did this for her and decided to share the wealth with her LT siblings. There were trees, canoes, teepees, bears, squirrels, and moose to choose from each in blue, pink, orange, or green. I chose the blue canoe because it reminded me of the lake at camp and I also just like the color blue. Julie chose to keep the orange teepee and until this very day it hands from her keys.

                The last sillyband I have is a green alien and the only one this is not glow in the dark. This sillyband was the only one not given to me directly at camp. The sillyband was originally my LT sister Katie’s from a pack of special edition Toy Story sillybands in honor of Toy Story 3 that was coming out in movie theatres. She got the sillybands from her secret friend during week three of our LT summer. During that third week she let our LT siblings have a sillyband if they wanted one, but I never did because I always forgot to ask her for one. After we all left camp my LT family and I planned a mini reunion at Katie’s home up in Howell the weekend before school started. While we were at the reunion and in Katie’s den I saw the sillyband. I wanted to add in to the sillyband collection on my wrist so I asked Katie if I could have it since I never got one during camp and she was happy for me to have it.

                Each sillyband has a meaning and a memory that I think of whenever I see it. The pink sea star reminds me of the generosity and love I get at camp. The blue canoe reminds me of my LT siblings, especially Julie, and all the amazing adventures we went on the three glorious weeks we were together. Last but not least, the green alien reminds me of my siblings and the reunion and how great friends each of them are and of the reunion we had. These bracelets keep the memories fresh in my mind like they each happened yesterday. They are my constant reminder of a time when everything was happy and loving and I was, almost, never upset or sad.

Thank you for the love <3