July 27 2024
Who’s Excited About Monday? ME!!!
August Campers love me, and I love them. This is not a braggy comment, just a statement of fact. I am liked by the campers at June and Main (who accept me warmly) but do not go crazy when I walk by. I am like a neighborhood mutt who wags and gets a pat on the head but is not thought about a lot. August campers, however, go crazy when they see me. They make up songs (“It’s Great to be The Jimboy” and it’s alternate version “It’s Great to SEE The Jimboy”). How could I not love these girls?
The reason for this shift (from “like” to “love”) is probably rooted in my awkwardness. I am an introvert. I have trouble remembering names. I blurt out things without thinking and yammer on about whatever is on my mind. Such a boy is not popular with the “cool kids” (ie teenagers); his “uncoolness” might rub off on them. He is not popular with middle schoolers (they focus on each other, adults are not that important). But young children seem to “get” me. They delight in my existence. They delight in my status as “JIMBOY”. Having trouble with names themselves (many August campers call their cabin counselor “my person” because it is hard for them to remember her name). They too consider themselves to be awkward as they don’t always know what to do in a situation. We are kindred spirits!
August campers are my people. We make a good match. I have always been here (grew up here, spent all my life working here) and they have not been here long. Many have never been to camp before. They might not know precisely what camp will be like but have a good idea they will like it A LOT. They have been waiting ALL SUMMER (possibly their WHOLE LIFE) for this day, but they don’t know exactly what to expect on the first day. They just need a friend to explain things. Gather round girls, I’ll lay it out for you.
Greystone is fun from the very first minute you get here… just show up, and we do the rest! We will take you from your car to your cabin, help you make your bed, help you decorate your bunk, help you unpack your things, and show you around camp. While we are doing that, you will be making friends—LOTS of friends!
The first friends you will make will be the girls in your cabin. There will be a lot of them (7 or 9 other girls), and you will notice that many of them will be smiling. Smile back at them! When you do that, you have already made a friend! That is how we do it at Greystone, we smile, and then we get to know each other. It is easy because everyone does it. In just a few minutes, you will be surrounded by friends in the cabin and they will help you get settled in (and you will help them). It is a lot of fun.
You will then go on a camp tour with your new friends. Your tour guide will be important to you because she is also your counselor. She is cool, goes to college, knows everything, is beautiful, funny, sweet, kind, and interested in you. You and all of your new friends will talk to her at the same time, and she will laugh and talk right back to you as you head out to explore camp.
You will amazed at what you see as you walk around camp. It is so big, so pretty, so interesting, and so easy to figure out. Everything is close to the flagpole, which is visible from almost everywhere (so you know you won’t get lost). There are interesting places, games to play, buildings to explore, animals to pet, berries to pick, thick grass to do cartwheels on, stages to dance on… all while you are talking nonstop with all these fun girls. And as you walk and talk with your new best friends you know in your heart that you will like it here.
Then comes lunch. YUM!!! Greystone bread, roasted turkey, sweet ham, tons of pasta salads, fruit, and brownies… it is a fantastic lunch and you are surprised at how hungry you were! You will eat a picnic lunch with your cabin friends, sit in a circle with your friends in a “get to know you” rest hour at the cabin.
Then comes our first meeting as a whole camp together! A loud speaker announces “when you hear the bugle, come with your cabin to the Fort. You hear a bugle (a trumpet kind of instrument that plays a tune… different tunes for different things… weird but nice). You run to assembly with the whole camp in the FORT for a meeting, sign up for classes (SO MUCH FUN), go to the pool (for a swim test, it’s easy!), play on the slip and slide, swing in the hammocks, or perhaps jump in on a 9-square/tetherball/jimball/pickleball game. Then it’s time for dinner… your first meal in the dining hall.
You will have a table reserved in the best dining room you can imagine. It is easy to find your table; we help with that, and then you will meet a bunch of NEW friends! The girls you share the table with at camp this year. We put you with someone you already know from your cabin, but most of the girls are all new (so you will make a bunch of new friends). You will smile, talk, and feel that warm glow of connection. Who knows, one of these girls might be your best friend in the world! We eat spaghetti that first night (YUM), and eat a big piece of that amazing Greystone bread (we bake fresh bread every day), and fantastic cookies for dessert. You should check out the salad bar; it is HUGE and has tons of food that is different from what is on the table.
Evening Program will be a fun time to sit with your friends and watch the counselors do skits about the classes they teach. There are lots of classes and it is fun to see all the counselors be silly… they have fun doing these things… then it is time for crackers and to get ready for bed.
Your counselor helps you get ready. Everyone brushes their teeth and gets settled under their covers just in time for “lights-out” (another bugle); the counselor gives a quick devotion and then comes to your bed to tuck you in and let you know how happy she is that you are in her cabin. You drift off to sleep with the distant sounds of frogs in the lake and insects in the trees, the cabin cooling in the night air, exhausted after a BIG DAY at camp. You might even smile as you close your eyes.
This is what will happen on Monday. I have been doing this a long time, and I have seen it happen thousands of times. So rest without worry. You are in for the best two weeks of your life!
