Submitted by Camille Breland Rome        Back to Book 3
 
I’m not sure where to start in reminiscing about some of the best memories of my life. I suppose a good place to start is with the anticipation I felt year round prior to making the 19-hour drive from south Mississippi up to Charlevoix. As a child, typically starting after Christmas and leading up until June, I would have dreams about the Belvedere. I dreamed I was there, with all of my friends, free and living my best life. These dreams of anticipation happened every year until they were realized upon my arrival to the much cooler weather, the smell of cedar, and sweaters in the summer.
 
My mother (Camille Leatherman Breland) grew up going to Charlevoix, as had my grandfather and forefathers before him. Thus, every summer -- typically for the entire month of July -- our family packed up our fire engine red Suburban topped with a massive luggage pod and made the 1,200-mile journey.
 
In those days, we rented the Forker cottage (#207), followed by the Austin cottage (#209). The memories I’ll share here are from the days when we were packed into the Forker cottage. I shared a bedroom with my cousin Vaughan (Leatherman Stewart). Vaughan is my first cousin and daughter of Leslie and Lauren Leatherman. We slept in twin beds in a wood-planked room. The walls were thin and decorated with gang awards from the Forkers’ past, and my parents would often have to come tell us to go to sleep when they could hear us still up late into the evening -- enraptured with giggling fits.
 
I think my anticipation of these days at the Belvedere was largely due to the pure joy and freedom I experienced there. I loved Gang. Some kids may have wanted to skip Gang, but I was never one (except for sailing lessons…). I reveled in the activities, the games, the competition, the new skills.
 
Some of my fellow Gang members during this time were Vaughan, Katie Alexander, Lilly and Charene Connett, Jayne Herman, Drew Flanigan, Nick Fox, Shaun Lyons, John Schumacher and many more. One of the highlights of every summer were the Big Gang overnights. I remember one overnight in particular -- when we were epically raided. I’m not sure if we were at Sleeping Bear dunes or another location, but I do remember we had borrowed the big red Suburban to haul kids to our overnight location. Overnights often consisted of games of Capture the Flag, making s’mores, telling ghost stories, Truth or Dare, exploring the woods around us, cooking over the fire … just being kids.
 
Some time late into the night, as we were tucked into our sleeping bags, I remember waking up to the sound of a “splat.” I think Mark or John Herschede may have been the first victim -- an egg splat open on his sleeping bag. I heard another egg land and crumble, juices running. “We’re being raided!” someone exclaimed, and the chaos ensued.
 
Eggs flew in every direction, yolks bursting and running down our sweatshirts. The teens were upon us, grabbing kids and spraying shaving cream in our hair. We ran, hiding, but were unable to outmaneuver the older teens and young adults who had driven from the Belvie to raid us. It was a complete mess. Shaving cream, eggs, water balloons … no one was spared. No one was dry. There were tears. There were angry words. We had to sleep in our wet clothing, hair sticky and matted. But there were also memories. The memory that we had survived one of the greatest raids of Belvedere history. I realize raids are now a thing of the past. I’ll leave the pros and cons for others to debate, but I do now cherish the memory of both raiding others when I was older and also of being raided.
 
My summers in Gang at the Belvedere are some of the best memories of my life. As all of us know, the Belvedere is something very special. I am grateful to those who volunteer their time to ensure that the Belvie thrives for generations to come, and I look forward to many more years of memories from one of my happy places.