June 24, 2024

“Just wear the right clothes”

I have lost count of how many years I have been writing this daily blog to Kingswood families.  One thing I can guarantee is that each essay is unique to the moment; no “cut and paste” from old logs by this author.  I’m sure I will hit the same themes as in past postings but supporting evidence to back up my rantings will come from current events.  Let’s go!

A smattering of fresh arrivals were on hand for breakfast yesterday morning.  It was raining buckets and Sara has already posted a pic of me staring out the window as some of our precious beach sand was being washed into the lake.

So I wandered over to a table to greet a few of my old camper buddies – Will, Lukas and Aidan. All smiles, these three, and when I inquired of them what they thought of today’s hellacious weather forecast, Lukas remarked, “Just wear the right clothes.”  This struck me as the perfect Kingswood metaphor and we expect to (I had written “hope to” but changed it to the more determined word choice) inculcate that camp value into all the boys.

It turned out that we were mostly spared of the truly bad stuff and boys got to spend gobs of time outdoors, getting tours of the grounds and organizing cabin games.  We are doing many things in cabin groups on the first couple of days – for obvious reasons.

One highlight came when we assembled in the Great Room of the Main Lodge to go over some of the ground rules and sign up for the next day’s morning activities.  Instead of having lengthy introductions, the staff put on an entertaining skit to the music of Disneyland’s “It’s a Small World Afterall,” the word “Camp” substituted for “World.”

I guess I was wearing the wrong clothes last evening when I retired to my cabin in expectation of those pesty rain showers returning soon.  A bit later I heard music emanating from the Council Fire area and looked out my window to see the entire camp assembled on the wet benches.  Not only were the counselors playing guitars but the sun was setting amidst broken clouds which illuminated the setting most favorably.  I instantly bolted over there to catch most of it.

This morning’s instructional activities are organized by age groups, not just by cabin, and will commence as I am writing this post. I was impressed by how attentive the boys have been so far when we have no choice but to grind away at orientation details, some of which are about as boring as watching paint dry but very important nonetheless.

Sara and I both will be roaming about the grounds with cameras to capture your sons in action.  Sara is a pro and I am a hack, but between us we post enough good pix to allow you to become a fly on the wall.  It is up to you to learn how to use your Camp InTouch account to locate these histories.  Have a nice day.

I just opened the photos section and see that Sara posted nearly 200 photos from yesterday.  All you need to do is check out both her album and my blog and you have the full story.  Just wear the right clothes and you can do it!