• Inspired by my tween daughter, I went to summer sleepaway camp for the first time in my 40s. • I thought spending time in nature could help me navigate my midlife stage while making new memories. • The women around me were mainly decades older, and pushed me to rethink narratives about aging.

Sleepaway camp wasn't exactly part of my childhood vocabulary. My parents didn't believe in paying money for me to rough it in the woods.

Instead, summers meant Chinese school, then long afternoons upstairs in their restaurant, tinkering with the office equipment as they worked.

My "campfire" was the blue glow of an Xerox bulb as I copied my face and various body parts into high-contrast collages.

Fast forward three decades: My tween daughter was going to camp in the Adirondacks. While she w

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