CHILDHOOD MEMORIES

When we were stationed at lowrey AFB in Denver, I was in 2nd grade and during the summer break my parents took advantage of a summer camp program that loaded up several vans full of kids and took them on day long outings.
On one of these trips we went to a national park in the mountains, one of the activities was a golf ball hunt, the staff had hidden golf balls in and amongst the rocky outcroppings in the park and, depending on how many you found determined the coolness of the prize you got.
I was searching around on this ledge for balls, and at one point I stood up and there was this flying insect right in front of my face. ( I was terrified of flying insects because of a previous experience involving a hornet that chased me from the yard to my door and stung me before I could safely get inside).
I instinctively started backing up, the winged demon followed, and I backed up off the ledge falling about 10 feet and landing on a pile of boulders, I sprained my ankle and was relegated to the no activity area and my injured ankle was wrapped in a ace bandage.
There was another boy around my age there and we wandered over to this pond where we skipped stones happily until I noticed the sky was turning orange...my little brain had been conditioned to be home before dark, so we headed back to the picnic area to meet up with the other summer campers and go home.
When we got there all the vans were gone.
The area was deserted, and it was getting dark. We finally came across this family and they called the state troopers.
This trooper drove us all the way home and even stopped along the way and bought us candy canes.
Turns out when they loaded up to leave someone did notice I was not on the van, but my older sister told the staff I was on another van...so they took the word of an 11 year old who was probably hoping I would be eaten by bears ( I still love you anyway sis:) ) and left the park.
My mom was completely freaked when the vans arrived and "Robbie" was unaccounted for.
Her relief when the troopers contacted her was dashed when I came limping up to the house and she learned of my header off the cliff.
That was the end of summer camp for me, I spent the rest of the summer at home with my mom.
And that was fine by me.
I also think this was the beginning of the end for my mom and sister, who seemed to be always in conflict afterward.