Thankful

Banquet Day has a well established and comfortable routine that combine to make a beloved tradition.

It begins with our last regular meal in the dining hall is breakfast… the noise level is shocking as every camper leans forward in her chair to hear and be heard by her friends sitting at her table. The songs after breakfast go for a long time and are sung with gusto as we clear our tables of the honey, salt and pepper grinders, and the olive oil and balsamic vinegar cruets. Then comes our last Breakfast Club (The Frog and the Scorpion fable) with that most famous of parting words from my father: “Keep your eye upon the donut, not upon the hole”. Precious.

Our traditional final Morning Assembly talk is given by me… Luke 17, the ten lepers. A short talk on Thankfulness. It is a topic worthy of our attention for we (myself included) are not often grateful; we seldom say thank you nor do we even notice our many gifts.

We go to morning classes, breaking for a picnic hotdog lunch at noon. A long rest hour (final packing and clean up, long showers, dance parties… not a typical rest hour) then a last camper assembly to watch some slide shows, camp video’s, sing some songs, and go through unclaimed lost and found items. Then comes banquet, the biggest EP of the summer… it is GREAT!!!

The cumulative effect of all of these little talks, of all these little devotions, of all these wonderful counselors, of all these wonderful activities and friends is amazing. These simple ingredients combine to transform our community into a heavenly joyful place, especially on our last day together. We hope that this joy will be tangible tomorrow when you have that long awaited, much anticipated reunion. Be thankful for your precious girls… they are such a wonderful blessing.

A few suggestions regarding your schedule:

Don’t come too early… Camp officially opens at 7:30 but the smart move is to give us time to organize the luggage for pick up. We will be transporting the bags from the cabins to the track for easy loading, if you arrive early it will take longer to find your camper’s things.
Count your bags… All the luggage at the track is tagged and sorted by cabin groups. Your campers tag will say how many bags you need to pick up at the track. Laundry bags are often forgotten!
Don’t come too late… Your girls are keenly anticipating your arrival and almost everyone is here by 9:30. If you are going to be later than 10:00, give us a call so that we can know (it is very possible your camper will be very concerned, it helps to have a confident answer to the question).

A couple suggestions for the ride home:

Turn off the radio… That first hour of conversation is precious. Your girls are now used to having real conversations and you will enjoy hearing what they have to say!
Cell phone off… An hour of cell phone free time in the car is a good plan… have that conversation first!

A single suggestion for next year:

Early Bird into a session if you are at all interested in returning to camp next year… Every year we have campers who miss the early bird enrollment window (usually because their parent’s forgot to do it). Since we have all of your information, it is a very quick online process (about 2 minutes). Well worth the effort (the Wait List is usually a 1 year ordeal).

Words do not express our gratitude to you for making this work possible. Camp thrives because of sacrifice and that sacrifice is appreciated more than you will ever know. Counselors give up their summer of freedom to work very long hours for very little pay. You give up a big chunk of your family time and sometimes spend your vacation budget on camp. It is a big deal for everyone… I think that is why it is such a wonderful place.

We all pour ourselves out to make this experience possible. It is good to look back at this stage of the game and think that it was all worth it.

This has been a magnificent summer. Worthy of a families 95 year legacy and much beloved tradition. Thank you for making it great.

Blessings on you as you travel. See you tomorrow.