You remember the stinky kid at camp when you were young? I was that kid at Space Camp, the summer after my fourth grade year. I thought I was hot shit in my blue NASA flight suit and my Space Camp t-shirt. I had aviator sunglasses too. It was the best time of my life.
The other kids didn’t like me that much; I believe I got stuck in mission control because I was young and smelly. No one said a word to me about it.
It wasn’t like I was the stinky kid on purpose: I’d forgotten my lock combination and I was embarrassed, so I didn’t tell a soul. I was young and had never been in an environment with group showers. Showers were a private thing; I went in once at the camp and told myself I wouldn’t go back. I still feel weird about showering in campgrounds and at the beach.
When we graduated at the end of the seven days of going through “real astronaut training,” there was a graduation ceremony where everyone got silver wings and a certificate. Afterward when I met up with my aunt and grandparents, they were astonished to learn I hadn’t bathed in a week. The family still laughs at this story.
Somewhere packed away with other mementos of a life that is long gone, my mother has it all saved – the suit, the wings, the certificate. All I have are my memories of being the stinky kid.
52|250 A Year of Flash 
What we learn at summer camp is rarely what we’re supposed to learn. Well done.
But it was still the best time of your life, even as the stinky kid. :) Nice little piece of nostalgia.
A slice of Americana … but nicely reaches out to most people’s (and kids’) experience, the shower-sharing and embarrassment and bodies …
“I got stuck in mission control because I was young and smelly” – it doesn’t get much more basic – and funny – than that! Well done.
Evoked memories of my own camp misadventures. you touched on lots of universal kid angst — the showers, the ostracism, the competition. excellent slice o’ life. Peace…
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