gather 'round the campfire
A large 'WELCOME PARENTS' sign, hand painted and decorated with stickers and doodles, was hung from the trees on either side of the entrance. Other handmade signs and crafts lined the entirety of the driveway, bringing a smile to Kelly and Stella's face as they got a small peek into some of what Maya had been up to the past few weeks.
It had been a busy summer for Maya. Once schools in Chicago broke for the summer, the Severides headed to the beach for a family vacation before the summer plans and summer camps started. After a few days of fun in the sun and a very long road trip, it was time to pack Maya up for her first camp of the summer—Girl Scout camp.
Girl Scout camp in previous years had just been a week-long day camp since Maya was still young but now that she was 10, she was old enough for the sleepaway part of camp. The little girl was excited, but Kelly and Stella were nervous. Maya had been away from home and her parents before but had always been close by or with friends and family. This time, she'd be three hours away with just her troop and chaperones.
It's not because Stella didn't trust Maya or the carefully chosen chaperones to join them at camp, because they did. It was more the idea that their firstborn child was old enough for sleepaway camp. Maya had always been independent and had no fears or hesitation about being away from her family for a full week, even at 10 years old.
It was a fact that made Kelly and Stella sad—and proud. So, they agreed Maya could go to Girl Scout camp.
They packed Maya up, loaded the entire family into the car, and hit the road in early June to drop Maya off at camp.
Addie and Nico gave their sister a short hug goodbye, too distracted by their surroundings (and too young to understand that they wouldn't see Maya for a full week) to make it a long, drawn-out thing. Kelly and Stella held on longer, letting go only when Maya had to leave for her first activity. They said goodbye one last time and told Maya she could come home at any time, she just had to call.
Maya never called. Not that Kelly and Stella expected her to.
Between hiking, swimming, skill-building, arts and crafts, campfires, and smores, Maya didn't have time to miss her family. She was making friends, earning badges, and having fun. All of the activities they'd done during the week had been a good distraction for Maya but when her parents came to pick her up on the last day of camp, and she got to hug them for the first time in 7 days, the little girl realized she had missed her family.
On the drive back home Maya chatted Kelly and Stella's ears off, filling them in on everything she'd done that week. She walked them through all of her new badges, what they meant, and what she had to do to get each one. She talked about the crafts she made (most of which were packed safely in her suitcase to display at home) and how much she loved eating the hot dogs and smores they roasted over the fire.
Kelly and Stella smiled the entire way home–not only were they ecstatic that Maya was back with them, but they were happy she'd had such a great experience for her first sleepaway camp experience.
Were they a little hurt that Maya didn't seem to miss them at all? A little, but if they were honest with themselves, they weren't expecting her to.
Kelly and Stella weren't the only ones excited to have Maya back, as evident by the way Addie and Nico all but tackled her in the front yard as soon as she got out of the car. For as much as the 5- and 4-year-old played the part of annoying little siblings well, Maya did miss them while she was gone.
When they all got in the house, Maya launched into retelling her camp adventures for Sadie, Addie, and Nico while Stella and Kelly ordered dinner. Maya gave Addie and Nico the bracelets she'd made for them during arts and crafts, showed off her impressive collection of friendship bracelets from the week, and after hours of begging, Maya agreed to teach them how to make their own.
The trip to the craft store came a few days later after bags had been unpacked and everyone had gotten some much-needed rest.
There wasn't much time to rest for Maya though.
After she returned from Girl Scout camp, she had a few days to rest before she dove back into activities. The City of Chicago hosted day camps for kids of all ages throughout the summer. Nico was still too young to go to any, and Addie was very limited on the ones she could attend but Maya? She had over a dozen camps to choose from and since city employees/first responder kids got in with a steep discount, Kelly and Stella let her go to as many as the Severide family schedule allowed.
Since the start of the World Cup spurred Maya's newest obsession with the sport, soccer camp was the first. Maya liked soccer but was not a fan of all the running so week two of soccer camp had her trying her hand at goalie. She liked that position a lot better but ultimately decided she liked watching soccer more than playing soccer.
Golf camp came next, thanks to the influence of an invite from Ella Halstead. Ella lasted the entire week while Maya called it quits after a few days.
"Golf is SO boring mama," Maya groaned from the backseat. "I don't know how Ella and Uncle Jay think it's fun."
Stella laughed. "I don't like it either baby, but you don't have to do or like something just because Ella does. I know you're best friends but that doesn't mean you have to like the same things."
Maya nodded. "Good, cause I don't like golf."
Maya spent the rest of the week at home with her siblings until the next camp started. This one was way more her speed—Camp Boots and Badges.
Much to Stella's joy, the CFD was using Girls on Fire as an example for one of the city's summer camps. Between a toned-down Girls on Fire and the CPD's Junior Police program, a two-week first responder camp was created for those kids interested in becoming police officers or firefighters.
More than sixty percent of the campers were the children of first responders and for its first year, Camp Boots and Badges was a roaring success. The first few days the kids learned about police officers, got to take a tour of the 21st precinct, and even got to sit in and look inside a real cop car. The last few days of camp were spent educating the kids on firefighters. They toured a fire station, got to see all the engines and Squad trucks, ran through training drills, and got to try on some of the turnouts and equipment.
Every other camp paled in comparison to Maya after that.
That was until just after the Fourth of July when Kelly and Stella received the call that rocked Maya's world. For months, Maya had been on the waiting list for Camp Walden, a sleepaway camp across the border in Wisconsin. It was supposed to be her first sleepaway camp experience, but she got waitlisted after all the spots for her age filled up. She had fun at Girl Scout camp but had been crossing her fingers all summer that she'd get to go to Camp Walden.
Her entire obsession with sleepaway summer camp started after she watched a movie with Sadie over winter break and she'd been begging her parents to let her go ever since. Kelly and Stella were cautious and did a lot of research, even convincing the Halsteads to do a few background checks, before deciding on Camp Walden. They made the call within hours of registration opening but by then all the spots for Maya's age group had been filled.
Maya was disappointed, but she was at the top of the waiting list and there was still a chance a spot would open up for her. As summer began, however, and the start of camp drew closer the chances of Maya getting into Camp Walden seemed slim.
Until they weren't.
It was a short turnaround between getting the call and dropping Maya off at camp, just a few days to pack everything up and make the drive up north, but they made it work.
Maya was practically excited the entire drive and squealed as they turned onto the camp driveway. Kelly and Stella smiled at her excitement, déjà vu from earlier in the summer washing over them.
Girl Scout camp had been good practice for Maya and good practice for her parents, but Kelly and Stella were still nervous. Girl Scout camp was only a week-long…. Maya would be at Camp Walden for a month. At this point, they weren't at all worried about how Maya would handle it; they were more concerned about how they would handle being away from her. Kelly and Stella knew Maya would be safe and having fun, and Addie and Nico would keep them plenty busy, but they would miss her. Four weeks in a different state was a lot for any kid, even crazy independent 10-year-olds.
Before they even finished getting Maya unpacked and settled into her bunk the little girl had already made friends with a few of the other girls. Kelly and Stella managed to pull her away for a goodbye hug before leaving her in the capable hands of the counselors and camp staff.
Over the next four weeks, Kelly and Stella received updates on how Maya was doing and lots and lots of pictures—pictures of Maya horseback riding and learning archery, pictures of her doing arts and crafts and laughing with her friends during meal time, pictures of her swimming, playing sports and games, performing in the talent show, and having the time of her life. They even received a few handwritten letters from Maya and some hand-drawn pictures.
The updates helped relieve any residual nerves Kelly and Stella had about Maya being so far away from home and now, as they parked outside of Maya's cabin, they were more than ready to get their girl back.
The Maya that ran out of the cabin to greet them seemed like a different kid—her curly hair looked longer, despite being in French braids, and it appeared like she had grown an inch or two—but when she wrapped her arms around them, Kelly and Stella knew she was the same Maya they dropped off all those weeks ago.
Packing the car took three times longer than unpacking did because Maya kept getting called away to say goodbye to the friends she made but it wasn't too long before they were on the road back to Chicago.
Despite her obvious exhaustion, Maya stayed awake the entire ride home, filling the drive with story after story of her days at Camp Walden. More than once Maya told them this summer had been the best summer ever and more than once, Maya thanked them for letting her go to as many camps as she did.
It made Kelly and Stella's hearts soar. As nervous as they had been to send Maya off on her own to camp, and despite how they and her siblings missed her while she was gone, it was clear that camp had been a great experience for her.
A/N: HI FRIENDS! Wow has it been a while! I didn't mean to abandon Maya the past few months but this is my first summer at my new job and it's busier than I'm used to. Between that and this god-awful Texas heat, I haven't had the energy to write. Add in the lack of inspiration/motivation and it's just not a good situation.
Maya's been at summer camp (wink wink) but she's back home now so *hopefully* we'll be seeing her more regularly.