Recently, I went to sleep-away camp. As you can see, Meg is my Mom. First of all, I am not going to start my Guest Flaunt by writing about my past, since I am only ten! Anyway, she asked me a lot of questions before sleep away camp. For example, she asked me, “Ethan, do you think people are going to stare? Are you nervous?” Personally, I was super excited.  But truthfully, I was a bit nervous, but not about the people there.  Instead, I was nervous if camp wouldn’t turn out to be fun. After all, I love sports.  I was hoping they would let me play the sports I love.   As for my fingers, I felt as if people were curious, I have already been living with that.  But, as long as they aren’t mean about it, then I understand this is new to them and they can still be nice.  I would accept how they might be, just as I hoped they would accept me.

When I arrived, on the first day I was glad people were being friends (both counselors and campers).   It helped that my cousin Sam was there and another good friend.  Also, that I brought my basketball net and ball for our bunk.  Trust me, A LOT of kids used that net and ball.  We had a lot of fun.  A couple of people were fascinated that I could even play basketball but they quickly got over it and just focused on playing with me and who I am.

As the summer went by, everyone got used to my hands, even the kids in other cabins in my unit.  Some kids were curious at the beginning.  I can’t say all of them were cool when they first met me.  But overall, I had a lot of fun at camp.  One or two kids even looked at my one finger on each hand and asked me what happened.  I explained I was born this way and they said, “cool.”

Here is what I think.   I had a good summer and the kids really did not always focus on my fingers.  First, I was lucky because they were overall nice kids at my camp.  But also, they accepted me because I was comfortable with myself and that made them comfortable with me.