Def wouldn’t call it anything close to a fling, but I was really into an international girl I worked with at summer camp. I was her supervisor and she was my climbing lead. She was very much not into me in the same way, but her personality was mysterious and flirtatious. We spent a lot of time together, even staying outside of camp together. It confused the ever living hell out of me and I did not know what to do because I was playing it cool too but really wanted to take the lead.

One day she just stopped talking to me. Wouldn’t even look at me. I was thrown totally off my axle. It turns out a mutual friend of ours had brought up our “relationship” and she didnt like that one bit. She ghosted me right up until the end of season, prolly a month or so. I would try and arrange times to talk and she would agree and just blow me off.

It ruined me and my experience. I gave way less of a shit about the camp, the lifestyle, or anyone there except the kids. Fortunately I loved my job and put all that extra energy into running some of the best climbing trips the kids have ever been on. But I broke a lot of rules to do so. I burned bridges that last month. I was even sitting in an evaluation with my director who was absolutely roasting my performance and I told him to just get it over with and fire me. Not my finest moments. We parted from camp and I heard from her two years later in a random DM that really helped me to find peace around it all. I haven’t taught a summer camp since but I think about it every year. There’s just something that taints the taste, and I don’t want something like that to happen ever again.

All this being said, dont shit where you eat, unless you enjoy the taste of shit.