It's Working!
Yesterday Was Awesome!
Reinventing camp isn’t easy. The details of camp life are many and not even thought about in the moment… our routines are a part of our “muscle memory” of the summer. We have been doing this crazy work for literally a hundred years and while we assess what works and what doesn’t, we often don’t even think about the basics because the basics work really well. Makes sense doesn’t it? Why reinvent the wheel?
This year is different. While we still are very much “doing Greystone” (we celebrate kindness, encourage the Great Day attitude, laugh at the same jokes, sing the same songs, move to the same bells and bugles, cheer for the same foods, savor the same traditions), we are also putting a new twist on almost everything that we do. We still salute the flag, but in cabin groups… separated. We dismiss to and from meals in cabin groups, go to classes in cabin groups, transport all the food and drink to a giant gymnasium 1,000 yards from the kitchen in a 1972 Land Rover that pulls a trailer of food. It’s crazy how difficult many of these details end up being… we were optimistic that it would work but we were also ready to adjust our plans in an instant IF anything blew up in our face.
The reality of a full camp running Greystone under COVID restrictions is something we are only now beginning to understand… and so far it is working great!
For instance: Cabins are getting very excited about activities that in a normal summer would not get ANY attention. For instance, kickball. In 2019 a kick ball class MIGHT get 10 campers but yesterday I saw a group of 20 girls playing a game like it was the most exciting thing they have ever done! They were screaming, laughing, running full blast, sliding into home base and being lifted up by their teammates. Best Kickball game I have ever seen! And it wasn’t just kickball. All the classes were really great… WHEW!
Dinner last night was a bit late, which in a normal year would have been a detail that would have stressed us out… but not this year! A 15-minute delay in the dinner delivery provided an opportunity to crank the tunes and have a camp-wide dance party in the FORT. At first, the girls remained seated at their tables (they didn’t know what the music was for), but once the first cabin group stood up and started dancing around their table the rest of the camp joined in. It was epic. Best dance party ever! When Gervais backed the Land Rover truck & trailer into the FORT, we cheered and settled into a fantastic feast.
Afterwards came the Tentalow Lip Sync EP on the pagent court… and the setting was perfect. We didn’t have the lights, huge sound system, and crazy special effects… and didn’t miss them because it was so perfect. The lake was mirror smooth, a light breeze not even causing a ripple but making the temperature perfect for sitting. As the girls got on the MASSIVE stage (it is 24 by 36 feet), they had room to do their complicated dance moves and sassy acting. As they performed, the next cabin gathered off ‘stage left’ and did so without any disruption whatsoever. It was a very comfortable setting, very relaxed, lots of cheering, lots of laughter… and sitting with cabins is just so easy! No anxiety about who sits next to whom!
I could go on and on… but lunchtime approaches. Tomorrow I will say a word about cooking (we are using a cool pizza oven that all home chefs would love). I also want to talk about our Camp Minister who is awesome. I also want to talk about our Bald Eagle, wild deer, and river otters.
Oh yes… water shut down again last night as we dismissed from EP… but I dashed to the pump and fixed it myself! I am learning stuff I never wanted to learn, and it is very interesting!
- Breakfast: Pancakes and Sausage (and all the other stuff too)
- Lunch: Roast Beef Sandwiches
- Dinner: Pork Chops… actually fried chicken… the menu changed yesterday and we served pork chops for dinner so we get the fried chicken tonight!
OH one last thing… Our Morning Assembly Devotion was really good… good use of 7 minutes if you have the time!
Stay tuned!