The Reunion

OMG! Here it is, January! Time for the Camp Reunion! Yayyyy!!! This was one of the most anticipated post camp events for a variety of reasons. The obvious one being that in a world without cell phones, e-mail, twitter, and IM's, we got to reconnect with girls we hadn't seen or heard from in nearly six months. From the directors standpoint, the Reunion was a very strategic way to drum up enthusiasm and enrollment for the upcoming summer. And it worked!
So, here it was, the dead of winter, and on the appropriate Saturday, we put on our "party dresses", our nice coats and took the train to Penn Station. The Reunions were usually held in one of the large ballrooms at the Statler Hilton hotel in Manhattan, which was conveniently located almost directly across the street from the station. From my point of view, we never got there quickly enough! Here's how I remember it:
The elevator doors would open to a receiving area, where staff would be sitting to greet you, and hand you the coveted large brown envelope! This envelope contained the following: If you had just completed your first summer, you received one half of your CL pillow. (A rectangular piece of green felt that you would sew onto the back and front of a decorative pillow. The second half would come the following year.) Also, in the envelope were green felt circles that were the "awards" that you received during the Camp Banquet. The goal would be to sew these awards each year onto your pillow, and bring the pillow with you to Camp the following summer. Campers who returned for 4 and 5 years got special "CL" emblems. It was quite the big deal. I still have mine!
Anyway, getting back to Reunion....The next thing I remember was the sound of screaming, as nearly 100 hyper-excited girls greeted each other. (If any of you out there recall specifics, please jump in!)
There was always some sort of "formal" greeting given by the directors. Perhaps a slide show /moviet? I think trophies and team officer gifts were also distributed. We, of course, sang Camp Songs. Cookies and ice cream were served... And the time always went by way too fast. Again, there were tearful good-byes. But, we would take the train back home knowing that in just five months, we would once again be "high upon that lone and lofty mountain top...."