Shari Kharasch wanted to go away to camp this summer. But at 42, she is a tad removed from childhood—and a twice-divorced mother of two is as welcome on the Meatballs circuit as poison ivy. "I couldn't find a summer camp for adults anywhere," she explains. So Shari invented one.
Last month 21 grownups (including a Philadelphia lawyer, a retired colonel and a congressional aide) showed up at Camp Carefree in West Stockbridge, Mass. to take part in Shari's dream at $250 per. On the 320-acre grounds of a private school, the campers frolicked like kids through a week of sports and crafts—and even raided the kitchen one midnight. Since most of the campers were unmarried, they found some indoor sports to play too. Said one: "It's one of the most marvelous experiences of my life." Even the klutzes had a good time. As a child, admits writer Helen Rosenbaum, "I was always the last one chosen for softball and I never got to first base. Here no one shortsheets your bed if you strike out."
Along with her second childhood, Kharasch may have found a new career. She resigned last year as chairman of the Washington, D.C. Board of Elections and Ethics amid complaints of incompetence in ballot counting. This month a second batch of campers will arrive at Carefree, and it could become a summer institution. As one camper put it: "Very few of us have the luxury of turning back the clock. This is the closest anyone can get."
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