Smile

Smile… our simple advice to the girls this morning, our expectation from the counselors every day… the single most obvious thing that defines the atmosphere of camp. SMILES

In most places we do not make an effort to smile a lot. I am the “King” of smiles at camp but when I go to the grocery store in town, smiling is not on my mind. I retreat into myself, put on my headphones, and quickly do the task of the moment in the fastest way possible. I don’t have time for people, so I don’t invite contact. Can you relate?

When we are outside “the bubble” we live like we are outside “the bubble”: smiling is not a priority (particularly when we are on a schedule) but we make it a priority now that we are back at camp. Smiling is actually a very important part of the “Greystone Zeitgeist”… important enough to make it the theme of Breakfast Club this morning.

Breakfast Club is my little 2 minute “word of advice” and 5 minute joke “enjoyed” by everyone after we have eaten breakfast. We start off with a song then answer the questions:

Q: “What kind of day are you having?” A: “A GREAT DAY”

Q: “How do you feel?” A: “TERRIFIC”.

We all smile when we say the words and that is the point! That is the point of the joke too… It is important start the day with a smile. Smiling will help us make friends… so we encourage the girls to smile all the time, especially this first week. It makes camp a very happy place!

You will see tons of smiles in the photographs we take every day. As I walked around camp this morning I was struck by the multitude of warm smiles that greeted me with every moment of eye contact (which is all the time! It is a crowded place!!!). Living in a community that is marked by smiles is an amazing experience, I can not imagine a more welcoming environment!

It is a bit cloudy today, a light drizzle keeping us cool during our morning activities. Temperatures are in the 70’s and all classes are meeting the HIGH expectations of these Main campers (our most discerning and advanced campers of the summer). The first class is a big sales pitch to the girls (who can change classes if they don’t like them). The counselors are working hard to make each class the most compelling and exciting class in camp, they don’t want anyone to cancel! The campers should feel like every class was a slam dunk; they should anticipate returning on Friday (we have an every other day schedule). They should be inspired after each and every class. A full day enjoyed like this is transformative! What a great place!

I ran into Virginia (my youngest daughter, now enjoying her Senior-Senior year) who was returning from Advanced Syncro (a very hard swimming “ballet” class). She was thrilled to be doing a new thing at camp (yes… they put her in Advanced despite the fact that she has never taken it before… I think all Seniors taking the class are automatically given the Advanced teaching). She was giddy with the excitement of doing a “Tear Drop” for the first time! I nodded enthusiastically without really knowing what a “Tear Drop” was, DELIGHTED to see her so engaged in a class she has never even taken before. She has been a camper for 12 years and still finds camp fresh and new. I love it.

Breakfast featured our famous home made biscuits, fried ham, baked apples, and cheese grits. Lunch is Poppy Seed Chicken and dinner will be “Laura’s Pork Chops”. The girls will go crazy over the fresh baked bread (we can smell it coming out of the oven already) and the salad bar will astound the “foodies” in the group. Camp has convinced me that I will never eat more healthy food than during the summer. It is simply not possible for me to prep fresh food like we do at camp. I tried one year and made it only a week. The effort was too great! Camp food is amazingly tasty and amazingly varied. Gervais and Alli are spectacular and the entire camp celebrates their skill, inspiration, and efforts to bring us the best.

One last thing… WRITE HAND WRITTEN LETTERS!!!! I am doing one a day for Virginia this summer (a big job and one that is worth the effort) as I did for all my girls during their Senior year of camp. There is a sweet connection that arises from this simple form of communication, IF YOU CAN FIND THE TIME do it. You will be glad you did.