Why Time Flies

Thursday Already?

Seriously, time is passing too quickly. Main camp is the longest session we offer but I wish it could go on forever. Not everybody feels this way, but most campers and counselors do. They wake up with a smile, delight in every surprise, relish every class, and embrace every relationship. These “fanatics” define our summer, providing an engine of enthusiasm that impacts our expectations. We look for these girls when we enter a room, go to an assembly, or announce the EP. They make camp fly.

Camp is two weeks shorter than it was when I was a boy. Back then it seemed to last forever… this change of perspective is probably an effect of age but is also due to good programming. We deliberately structure each week to be a mixture of routine/predictable moments, unexpected surprises that make us smile, and big home-run events… and this structure makes camp fun but is not the main benefit of the camp experience.

Camp is worth doing because of the growth that occurs while having fun. Social growth that makes it much easier to walk into a room of strangers and discover a room of friends. Physical growth that encourages beneficial routines (eating well and exercise) and gives us a proper perspective (our worth is not tied to the way we look). Mental growth that spurs curiosity that leads to lifetime of learning and a positive attitude that is able to find the good in all situations. And, of course, we learn to appreciate and seek spiritual growth in our life… growth that softens our hearts and fills us with joy.

Camp provides this 4-fold growth every day… When our days are marked by this growth, the weeks fly by and we wish it could go on forever.

Two weeks from today your girls will return home. Most are not yet aware of that fact but will come to the realization at some point in the upcoming week. When they grasp the significance, they will double down on their camp experience. They will be more intentional about everything. Classes, Meals, DMCs, EPs, Morning Assemblies, Cabin Devos, Tuck-ins… everything will assume greater weight because they better understand what each thing means, how much they will miss it when it is gone.

It is hard to describe. Perhaps it was said best by Heather Brown, a first-year counselor about 30 years ago. I will end with her quote from a letter written to a friend at UVA when trying to describe why she loved camp. I assume that you have not read it in a while. Always nice to be reminded:

“All I know is that this place is pure delight – a miracle in the mountains. The days are the closest thing to heaven I can imagine. The children are happy and healthy; they laugh and actually roll down the hills for fun. They sing in the Dining Hall and climb up the apple trees to pick the apples and feed them to the horses and then to themselves. They have big eyes and small hands. They get in trouble for playing their little girl tricks. When I see them dancing, I am shown that a little girl is the most beautiful of all creations. They blush and learn to be ladies. They put their napkins in their laps and still catch frogs in the afternoon. They have such talent and goodness in them. Christ shines in their smiles and in their hugs.”

To God be the Glory!

• Breakfast Avocado Toast
• Lunch Charcuterie
• Dinner Spice-Rubbed Chicken Tacos (Birthday Ball)
• EP Talent Show
• Weather Sunny, no chance of rain, 84 degrees.