Slowing Down
We are entering what is considered to be the “slow” part of camp… the week before our big camp productions… a time when campers feel like there is a lot of time left in camp; no rush to get anything done. A time to fritter away without a care in the world. The lazy part of Main Camp, a time marked by good conversations and good books enjoyed under shade trees on hot summer days.
This is a time of camp that the campers love, and over the years, we have honed the program to double down on what makes this week so great… time savored without pressure. When we provide time in this place with these people campers thrive! This is one of the reasons that we love Sundays so much at Main Camp. We don’t do that much in the afternoon compared with our other sessions. We offer many options, but the girls prefer to do their own thing- talking, sitting, reading, and sunning. Water activities will ALWAYS a hit, but most other activities are sparsely attended in favor of the coveted free time shared with friends.
So we provide surprise moments with the people that they love so much. Sometimes these moments are with their cabin, sometimes with their group, sometimes with every person in camp. Tonight we will bring back one of our favorite pre-Covid surprise moment EPs- Group Night. This is a blowout event where each of the 6 groups does a program that has been prepared specifically for their interests. The Senior-Seniors will board a coach-style bus and head into town, we have rented out a great restaurant, and they will get a taste of the real world for a few hours. The Junior-Seniors will have Putt Cove all to themselves, we have a food truck from Asheville (which specializes in Mexican food) that will be all theirs for the night. The 9th graders will get dressed up and come to my house, Margaret and I are catering a seated dinner and hosting a house party for the night. There is a super cool dance party in the Pavilion, Ice Cream Floats and Pool Floats at the pool, an adventure on Apple Hill, Ice Cream wars on the soccer field. We have spent a lot of time preparing for these moments and the preparations assure that each event is awesome. It will be a fun night that goes late, prompting a sleep late morning tomorrow. Should be fun!
Breakfast Club today finished the second of our four “Great Day Themes” (Social and Mental growth done). We encouraged the girls to be curious about the world that surrounds them. I used the example of the camp fireflies, who are part of a colony that has been here for hundreds of years. For most of the year, they live their stages of development underground, only to emerge in the summer… ending their lives in the glorious light that we all celebrate. There are similar wonders everywhere we look, we just have to notice them… it is an important part of the Great Day Life.
Activities this week will focus on passing levels, perfecting projects, and practicing programs. All of these efforts will be rewarded in the week to come… counselors are well aware of the time crunch that is just around the corner, but campers are really just savoring the summer and not thinking about too much more than hanging out together. We will also give the girls the opportunity to do a mid-camp swap of activities that can be enjoyed fully in the time left at camp. Camper/Counselor challenges will also be in full swing (a soccer game is being scheduled for Wednesday), always adding some fun for the group.
We encouraged sisters to get photographs together after church yesterday, and a HUGE crowd showed up. Going to camp with your sister is a very sweet thing to do, an experience that is often featured in the Senior speeches at 5-Year. There is something about being part of this community (a tightly knit group of mostly teenaged girls who are very kind and open with the entire group). Seventeen-year-olds become friends with nine-year-olds. They know each other’s names, walk to class together, eat meals together, learn skills together, and dance to Christian Rap together with equal amounts of enthusiasm and joy. In such a setting, a sibling might be more appreciated than elsewhere. A sibling might become a friend and mentor. It is a wonderful aspect of what happens every summer.
Thank you for checking in; have a Great Day and a Great Week!
- Breakfast Corned beef hash, scrambled eggs, grits
- Joke S-Car-Go
- Lunch Chicken Enchiladas
- Dinner Cheese Ravioli
- EP Group Night
- Weather Partly Cloudy, 78 degrees, not much chance of rain