Delightfully Distinct

Anyone who writes a lot quickly discovers that adjectives are prone to overuse. Our vocabularies are not sufficient to the task of expressing what is in our hearts, so certain words come up over and over again. Delight is such a word for me.

My “go to” adjective for camp life is “delightful”… and I am unapologetic for it! Camp IS delightful, it delights our hearts, and I think that it delights the Lord. But there is another adjective that I have not used very much but also informs what we do at camp… that word is “distinctive”.

We aim to provide an experience that is distinct from what is available elsewhere. The list of distinctives is intentional:

Christian Environment (our staff, schedule, and facility are centered on the goal of Glorifying God).
Classes (we offer about 70 different classes to take every day)
Food (everything is made from scratch)
Special Programs (surprise events that are unique to camp)

Our goal each summer is to provide the best summer ever… distinct from the summer that came before in ways that will stand out in the memories of the campers. It is very difficult to succeed in this goal… for we do a simple thing (run a summer camp) and we have done it for a very long time. But it happens due to some important preparations:

Hire a GREAT staff… their inspired participation in regular camp routines makes those routines fresh and new every year.
Provide new classes… introduce new program areas and change old activities if they are getting “long in the tooth”.
Offer unusual classes… things that the girls are probably not going to do anywhere else (silversmithing, glass beads, glass fusion are good examples).
New EP’s… new EP’s that are unexpected and not likely to be done elsewhere.

Last night’s EP was one of our surprise EP’s… “Tacos and Chacos” was made distinct with two massive “Foam Machines”. These machines pump out clouds of fluffy foam… they literally make mountains of the stuff! I have never seen a mountain of foam, never walked through a wall of foam, never even thought of it; so when we discovered that we could rent machines that made such a thing happen, we jumped! Just seeing so much foam was distinctively delightful (the older campers only wanted to marvel at the sight, but the tentalow girls went crazy in it!). So much fun!

The whole night centered around last night’s Mexican dinner. We decorated the dining hall, the girls dressed in Mexican costumes (we put it on the packing list), ate tons of really great food, played some really fun games, won some really great prizes (Fiestas for the winner’s cabin), and played in foam. I can bet that there will not be another party anywhere like the party enjoyed by the girls last night. Certainly distinctive!

The weather held for our party (perfectly lovely, no rain) then rained after we returned to our cabins, washing away all hints of the foam. This morning there is not a cloud in the sky as we feel the temperatures slowly rise (high of 85 degrees is forecast). The misters are set up and will be most appreciated, as will the ice machines and Gatorade.

Breakfast skillets, Lunch gyro’s, and dinner salmon will combine for today’s distinctive meals from the kitchen. Focused effort in the classes will make for memorable hours in the sunny summer (we will only have two more “regular” TTS days). The Counselor Talent Show will provide an exclamation point to the day.

It promises to be a delightful combination of moments sure to be remembered in the years to come. We can’t wait!

Thank you for reading the blog, writing your girls, and supporting our camp. It is a delight!