by Sarah Espigares

Created on: June 24, 2008

Black Friday

It was the summer of 1987. We were living in Edmonton. Denis, Gabe and I were enrolled in a YMCA day camp. Now that I look back on it I remember that the camp was a lot of fun. We were outside for about 8 hours a day and we were always playing some sort of game with other kids. I also remember it was very hot. Hotter than usual. We didn't mind too much being kids and wanting to play outside as much as possible, but I remember my mother having a hard time of it and complaining about the heat. It was weird hot too. Living in Alberta where there aren't too many bodies of water you don't experience humidity the same way you would in Ontario for instance, but that summer was very humid.

The day camp, which only lasted a week, was drawing to a close and for the last night a camp out in Goldbar park was scheduled. All three of us were very excited. We had been camping many times before with our parents, but this was new. We had never been on a camping trip by ourselves. And with our new friends too. This was a real treat.

The day we arrived to set up camp was any other day that week. It was very hot and very sticky. You could wash your hands 100 times in a day and they would still feel dirty afterwards. We set up our tents. There were four of us girls in the tent that I had brought. I felt very proud that I could contribute to the trip by bringing one of our tents. I would like to think that my brothers and I were quite experienced in camping seeing as we did it every summer with our parents. That being said, we had no problems getting the tent up and settling in our sleeping bags and other gear. For the rest of the day we played at the park and ran around like kids do. We ate dinner and laughed and had a lot of fun totally oblivious to what we were about to experience.

That night it became stormy. It wasn't your usual kind of stormy. It didn't really rain, but just drizzled. I kept waiting for the big downpour because the lightening and thunder were incredible, but it never came. There was a bit of wind, but it was eerily calm for the most part. My parents stopped by at one point. I was surprised to see them, but also enjoyed it because it was our first time camping without them. Even if it was in a municipal park. They asked us if any of us wanted to come home. They were concerned about the storm and us being struck by lightening or something. They're concern made me a little concerned, but there was no way I was going to leave. I was having too much fun.

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