There was just five of us and the moon that night. Five fresh-faced 13 year old’s, all with a future ahead of them that they did not even realize. None of us knew just quite what our paths held, all we knew is that it was summer and we were camping. This most likely was the most mature and grown-up thing we had experienced thus far. As we made our way down the water, snaking down the unlit path, we giggled and then hushed as we were terrified by the woods. The woods surrounded us and haunted us. We stuck to the concrete path that led to the water.

“Let’s jump in!” My friend Lila’s voice rang out. She was always the daredevil of the group, she had a slightly tough exterior and the most physical of the group. The rest of us nervously laughed on, we were not going to go swimming. It was midnight, pitch black, and we had sneaked away from her Mom. Then her voice called out again “But let’s do it naked!”

Suddenly none of us could look at each other. It was the time of our lives where we were starting to develop a mature body and none of us were confident in the fact that we were not fat, our breasts were fine, and we did not need to wax off all of our eyebrows. But slowly we shimmered out of our swimsuits, and ran individually into the water.

When I was immersed, I could not see my friends but I could hear their movement around me under water. I was 13 but looked much older. I thought my thighs were too fat and my stomach too flabby. I felt so ugly at 13 compared to my friends, some of which were already allowed to do things I was not allowed to do, and were allowed to look like a teenage, something I was not allowed to do. Under water I realized though, that on the beach, on the shores of where I spent my summers, all my friends were too insecure. We all did not possess the confidence to take pride in our bodies. As I emerged, I saw their naked silhouettes and noticed our differences. One of my friends was overweight and another was all skin and knobby knees. Another looked like she could be in her twenties and another like she was perfectly 13. I guess I was somewhere in between.

We all started shrieking as we came up from the water, it was cold, dark, and mysterious. The nervousness we had mere minutes earlier had disappeared with our bathing suits and we boldly took turns jumping off the rocks. As we shivered out in the lake, we promised that we would remain friends and always be there for each.

This is the actual site of the affair, the water is simply beautiful with the clearest sky you can imagine.

We were surrounded by the mountains of the Okanagan valley and surrounded by local history that created this beautiful hidden swimming lagoon. This was home to us. This is my home because I spent my childhood and my teenage years. This is my home because the parks and wilderness that cover the Okanagan is my backyard. My home is this valley and all the friendships and family that remain inside of it.

Today, 3 out of the 5 are still best friends with the other two drifting apart. We still too this day go skinny-dipping every summer and every time we have all grown into ourselves and started to if not appreciate, at least accept, the bodies that we had been given. Friends like this are the most powerful type of friendship around, someone who has seen every bit of you (quite literally in this case) and still loves you. Home is wherever these girls are.

The Okanagan is my home, with its clear blue skies, picture-perfect shorelines, and the stories of nature that I grew up and have created for myself. I will forever soak up the sky and the hot summer nights.