A Few of the Finer Things - June 2015

Did you go to summer camp when you were a kid? Do your kids go to summer camp now? When I was ten years old, my older sister, younger brother and I all went to Camp Blue Star in Hendersonville, North Carolina for four weeks. I had a rough start to my overnight camping career…I got sick on the plane ride there (I used to get very motion-sick as a young boy) and was quite homesick for the first week or two. The tear-soaked letters that I wrote to my parents, grandparents, aunts/uncles and anybody else whose address I brought with me are brought up with hearty laughter any time someone in the Weiss family brings up summer camp. After the first couple of weeks I started having a better time, but somehow that didn't stop the letters begging to come home (or begging family members to "please tell my parents how miserable I am here so they will let me come home")–I was a real gem! The four weeks ended and as we were all boarding buses to the airport to fly home, there were lots of hugs and lots of tears…this time from sadness that the summer was over and saying goodbye to newfound friends.

Several months later my parents asked the three of us who wanted to go back to camp for the next summer…my sister and brother quickly responded, "I do!" Imagine my parents' reaction when I said that I wanted to go back too…my father screamed, "YOU??!! YOU WERE MISERABLE! I'm not going through that again!" After a bit of discussion it was revealed that I really didn't have THAT bad of a time, playing all kinds of sports was a great distraction and I actually made a few friends. Cautiously, they agreed to let me go back and I had a fantastic summer the following year…no tears and no dramatic letters!

After my freshman year of college I returned to Camp Blue Star…this time as a counselor. Spending a summer as a camp counselor is a terrific experience—you have a ton of fun and you have a lot of responsibility—experience that helps you once you are out in the "real world." Our oldest son, Jonah, was a camp counselor for the last three summers at the camp he attended since he was ten. He had a very demanding boss and was held very accountable for all sorts of responsibilities from organizing sports leagues for campers to planning social events with other camps and dealing with all of the logistics involved (transportation, meals, emergency care, etc.).

The five children in our house have all attended summer camps–Brett, Seth and Evan still go and can't wait until their departure dates in mid-June. Debbie and I feel that camp gives them a chance to "be a kid" for the summer and do fun, organized (mostly outdoor) activities far away from TVs, computers, cell phones, video games and all of the distractions of their everyday lives at home. All of our kids have made very special friendships through camp. With texting, face-timing, email and other social media platforms it is much easier for them to stay in touch with their camp friends than it was for us! Abrie will be attending Camp Swift as a counselor. Camp Swift is a very unique organization that allows underprivileged kids to experience camp. We are long-time supporters—you can find out more about it at www.campswift.org.

Finally, if you want to read a great story about a life filled with summer camp, my friend Tom Adler wrote a very entertaining book called Campingly Yours. It is his personal memoir and it is a delightful read–takes you from his first summer as a camper to his ownership of Chippewa Ranch Camp for girls.

I hope you all have a wonderful summer filled with fabulous camp experiences for your children or grandchildren!

- Gary Weiss, June 2015