August 3 2024

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I didn’t sleep well last night… a side effect of my torn rotator cuff injury last month. Medical update: it feels much better, but still wakes me up several times a night. I am scheduled for surgery after camp and met with the Doctor yesterday (a depressing meeting). I awoke in a bit of a funk, but my spirits rose as I walked down the hill to the Dining Hall. The air was filled with the music of birds singing and girls talking (all of Tuxedo can hear the “roar” of our packed dining hall at mealtime). That happy music was enhanced by the weather: a perfectly calm, warm, slightly humid, very sunny, lazy, summer day. It is hard to maintain a “funk” under such circumstances.

Pancakes and maple syrup firmly set my feet on a happy path and I hurried with the girls to Morning Assembly, where I heard a great devotion and was delighted by the whole camp singing along and dancing to a song that is sung every day “Fear, get out of here. This is just a very happy place and it is very hard to keep a bad attitude around such great people. I am encouraged by the counselors (sweet, kind, unselfish, loving, funny, happy, professional, observant, hard-working, and upbeat all the time). I am amazed by the campers (being around children is good for the soul… when you are hanging out with them for a long time, they really open up and talk.. It is a delight that is impossible to duplicate elsewhere. When you have your family together this fall, have a big spend the night party that lasts a couple of nights. Play in the yard or the park, run around a lot, eat good food (especially dessert), play some games, have dance parties, go to sleep early… you will see what I mean on the second day as you are admitted into their little world. It is delightful. Your daughter will be a huge help if you decide to have such an adventure.

Girls grow in every way at camp. This fact has amazed parents for a hundred years. While they might not have gotten “bigger,” they will have grown more confident, self-sufficient, outgoing, and kind. They will easily enter new circumstances with less anxiety and make friends more quickly than before camp. We know you want this growth for your girls and hope that camp will equip her with these valuable character traits.

Such growth occurs naturally at camp (just getting away from technology and playing outside with a nice group of new friends is a wonderful experience… we wish every child could do it for a week or two every year). But at Greystone, we add a spiritual component to camp life, and that addition makes a big difference.

Spiritual Growth has always been a foundational component of the Greystone experience. Dr. Sevier was the senior pastor of the First Presbyterian Church in Augusta, a very prestigious position (President Woodrow Wilson visited the church from time to time because his father had been the minister there at one time). Dr. Sevier resigned from his position and started Greystone because felt called to serve children and determined that camp was a very effective experience for spiritual growth in young lives. Thus, we include The Lord in our daily lives in ways that are obvious (praying before meals and after programs, devotions, church) and less obvious (hiring a Christian staff and maintaining a Christian standard of kindness in all things). It makes for a sweet community.

This sweetness is specifically spelled out in the Greystone Honor Code, which is posted in every cabin. “I commit to showing kindness, seeing the good, and taking ownership of what I do. This is how I will have fun, make friends, and glorify God both in this place and in the world.” When campers relate to each other with this standard, camp is a wonderful place. If feelings are ever hurt, it is because this standard has not been upheld. Our campers grow because of it, and we think it is an important foundation to the camp experience and to life in the real world.

Today is Challenge Day. The odds and the evens compete in every class to earn points for their team. It is fun to see how each class interprets this competition… the counselors have it down to a science, and the girls consider it to be important to get every point possible. We even give points for picking up trash around camp (there are big trash cans for each team, and we measure the amount of trash gathered in the day). It is a fun day that will be capped off with a fun EP. Cabins will spread out around camp to enjoy a Gameshow, paint wars, or playing in the water. We have been doing this kind of group night all summer, and it is a real crowd-pleaser… campers love it, particularly when the weather is as perfect as it is today. Life is good… thank you for making it possible!

The Day’s Details: