"If dreaming made things happen, if wishes could come true, camp would last forever, a summer all year through"

Uhhh how I wish the above quote was true, but alas, all good things come to an end...I guess that's what makes them so special.  This weekend (as many of you know since I've been posting about how excited I've been) I attended the 85th camp reunion at the summer camp I went to for 10 years.  It was absolutely fabulous, I couldn't have asked for a better weekend.  We slept in the cabins, swam in the river, sang camp songs, stargazed (I saw 2 shooting stars!), and so much more.  It was so neat to be back with friends, some of whom I hadn't seen in years, and just fit right back in, right where we left off.  

I think I had a smile on my face just about the whole weekend.  I barely slept because I was so excited to be in such a special place.  Waking up to the cool air in the mornings makes you feel so rejuvenated and glad to be alive.  Something that was really inspiring for me (since this was my first reunion) was to see all of the generations coming back to camp and how the love never changes.  As a camper and counselor as you grow older and understood the true meaning of camp your love grows deeper.  But by the time your one of the oldest at camp your love is stronger then many of the younger campers because you've been there longer and are just more mature.  Coming back this weekend was different though, we'd all been there about the same amount of time and everyone, though in some cases generations between, had the same love for camp.  A beautiful legacy.

Here are a few pictures from the weekend:

Friday night dinner  

Dance party...got a little wild!

Team comp, the Buffs cheering!

Green Team snake 

During the deck tennis team comp (learn more about deck tennis here),
all three of us were green team captain as JCs :)

Crimson Sunset on Carrington Deck :)

My JC group, love them

Camp for 2 days or 2 months?

Anyway, it was a wonderful weekend and I could probably go on for hours with all of the special moments and rekindled relationships.  My mom (who was also there for the weekend and went to camp as a little girl) and I talked about the weekend the whole way home, such a sacred and unique bond that we get to share.  After the weekend, although very camp sick, I'm feeling rejuvenated and re-centered on what's truly important.  Weekends like these help you remember what life's all about, so happy I was able to be a part of it.

Do you have places that help you remember your childhood and bring you back to what is truly important?  

Happy Tuesday, glad to be back...and still catching up on many of your blogs!!

Rain, rain, go away

It's a rainy day here in DC and that got me thinking, what about rain makes me happy?  Of course the first thing that popped into my head was CAMP!  I went/was a counselor at Camp Mont Shenandoah for ten years and absolutely adored it.  One memory that pops into my head when I think about rain is two hour rest hour, don't you wish you still had that at work?  The best was when you went to rest hour and it started raining and you fell asleep to the rain beating down on the tin roof.  You'd wake up at about the time the bell should be going off for afternoon activities but nothing rings...TWO HOUR REST HOUR!

I think I enjoyed this much more as an older camper and counselor but the opportunity to sleep for two hours in the middle of the day, it doesn't get much better than that.  It was always so cozy in the cabins when it rained, there'd be a bit of a breeze and all you'd want to do was cuddle under your covers and go to sleep to the pitter patter of rain on the tin roof.

Other rainy day activities were fun too.  If it rained for awhile they would cancel activities and we would all go to west lodge and do things all together.  One of my favorite games we'd play was the bunkmate game.  In this game what you do is split into two groups and each bunkmate gets separated.  Both groups are asked questions about themselves but the other group does not know the answer.  The two groups come together and the counselor then asks the bunkmate to answer the question for what her bunkmate would say.  There is then one winner per cabin and then one group of bunkmates per cabin compete in front of the camp.  It is tons of fun and very entertaining on a rainy day!

Although rain is definitely not my favorite, it's nice to think about fun memories that allow you to enjoy the rain.  What are your favorite rainy day memories?

Here are a few camp photos, enjoy!

the river after a big storm

hanging out in the cabin

lip sync in west lodge

Final Banquet