I’ve shared a lot of poems at Campfire over the past decade for good reason: they share a message much better than my meager abilities! We’ve listened to a lot from Dr. Seuss – Oh, the Places You’ll Go and Yertle the Turtle come quickly to mind. I’ve read Invictus by William Henley, If by Rudyard Kipling, among others.

In reading through a new book recently, I came upon this one:
With the Moon Language by Hafez

Admit something:
Everyone you see, you say to them, “Love me.”
Of course, you do not do this out loud, otherwise
Someone would call the cops.
Still, though, think about this, this great pull in us to connect.
Why not become the one who lives with a
Full moon in each eye that is always saying,
With that sweet moon language, what every other eye in
This world is dying to hear?

Hafez lived in the 14th century in Persia. But he just as well may have been writing specifically for us. Every child who walks into camp is yearning to connect. It doesn’t matter if they’ve been at Weequahic for 9 summers or getting off the bus for the first time.

All have this great pull in them to connect. Want to know a secret?

I feel the same way.

At Camp

At Weequahic, we get to drastically decrease the ‘noise’ of our lives. The cell phone and internet are left at home. Video games are not at the finger tips. Homework? Well… only if you really, really want some. Too competitive? Raise your hand if you want to play and let’s just have a blast. The afterschool run around? Non-existent.

This decrease in the noise only helps to foster connections between the campers and their old friends, new-found friends and mentors. It’s a complete blessing… if we do it right! That’s why we spend 10 months planning for the experience.

So, in this new year, I highly recommend adding a little poetry to your life. It may remind you about what’s important. Have a great week!

I’ve spent the last several days thinking on the past twelve months. They’ve been among the most exciting and interesting I’ve enjoyed. It’s been a year marked with a lot of positive experiences, moments, and memories.

It’s also been a year marked with failures from which, I sincerely hope, I’ll learn.

The Positives

Lots of great new camp families joined along with a couple of amazing full-time staff – Scrappy and Maintenance Director Alex.

We created a brand-new program (and huge new building) for our Senior Campers. Based on the comments and the returning campers, it’s been very well received.

It looks like our our campers and staff enjoyed an amazing summer. This thought comes from enjoying the highest return rate on record for both campers and staff members. Wow – that’s pretty awesome! Thank you to all!

We also hit on a few new ideas at Weequahic that look to last:

• What will be your September Story?
• We either win or we learn.
• Don’t let the small rope hold you back.

Areas for Improvement

We want to be better at communicating with our camp families and our staff and will continue to work on ways to improve. Better systems and technology to support the fantastic people we have with us will make a positive difference.

We’ll continue to update the bunks. Inter and Senior Girls – you all get brand new bathrooms, siding and windows for Summer ’18. Gentlemen, you’ll be next. (Ladies first, after all!)

New ideas for activities, special events, and evening activities for our campers are high on the list as well. Thankfully, we have an amazing group of people thinking on this very subject. We can’t wait to watch everyone enjoy this coming summer!

Finally, we want to be better at staying in the moment and enjoying every aspect of the camp experience. The more we model this for our campers, the more they’ll do it themselves.

Welcome 2018

I enter 2018 with a full and grateful heart. Thank you to all who were a part of our community in 2017. We’ve learned so much from so many, it would take too long to list everyone. But, we certainly appreciate everything you’ve done to be alongside us.

It’s going to be an amazing year. Why? Because we’ll make it so… together!

As far as resolutions, I have two that I’ll share:

First, I want to know the people’s names who I see all the time at the grocery store, our UPS person at home, our dry cleaner, etc. Why? Because we interact often enough to know each other’s names.

It’s something we pride ourselves on at camp. I want to make it a bigger part of my home life, too. So, that’s one.

The second? Lay off the Canteen!

I hope you and your family has a wonderful end to 2017 and a safe start to the New Year. See you in 2018!

Can’t wait for camp,

Cole

“He was mastered by the sheer surging of life, the tidal wave of being, the perfect joy of each separate muscle, joint, and sinew in…that it was aglow and rampant, expressing itself in movement, flying exultantly under the stars.” – Jack London, Call of the Wild

I love this quote from Call of the Wild. It encapsulates what one sees walking around Camp Weequahic during our evening activities, seeing the kids in the dance hall performing with their friends, sliding around Sly Lake on the tube, and dashing up the sidelines with the ball in hand:

Joy.

The gift of camp is, for many, the experience of joy. While we can’t live at camp year-round (mores the pity), it doesn’t diminish our need for joy. So, in a season that talks about joy often, the question is a natural one: how do we get to ‘joy?’

Here are a few ideas from some authors (and campers) who often teach me.

It’s About the People

“To get the full value of joy you must have someone to divide it with.” – Mark Twain

When our campers do something amazing, they share it with their friends. Most of the time, their buddies are right there alongside them to celebrate. However, our choice-based program allows great friends to try different things – a little separation is a good thing!

Walking through the Dining Hall at lunch illustrates this perfectly. The conversations are full of laughter, cheers, and wonder. “You did that?! That’s amazing!” Campers are not bragging – they are searching for joy by sharing it with their friends.

This is why we spend so much time and effort helping campers build friendships at Weequahic. First-time campers are justifiably nervous about the new experience. Once they have some friends with whom they share their joy, the first-time camper blooms.

Have something joyful? Get the most out of it by sharing it with a friend who’ll love it, too.

It’s About the New

“The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences, and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun.” – John Krakauer

With the holidays upon us, there will be many gifts given and enjoyed. So many will be treasured and loved for a long time. Other gifts won’t be so lucky in their length of service.

There are many times that I received a gift that brought some joy quickly. However, once the ‘newness’ of the thing – a video game, a toy, etc…. – wore off, it was no longer fun and quickly forgotten. I see it in our own boys from time to time.

Joy comes from exploring and finding something new. Discovering something you did not know before brings delight – a new skill, a new idea, or a outlook. Pushing past (normally self-set) boundaries opens up new realms of joy because you now have a larger world.

Combine these new discoveries with those close to you and you’ve got a potent ‘joy mix’ on your hands!

It’s About the Attitude

“Sometimes your joy is the source of your smile, but sometimes your smile can be the source of your joy.” – Thich Nhat Hanh

Let’s be honest: sometimes you have to fake it to make it. Here’s my train of thought on this point.

Point #1: Our minds are set up to ‘value’ negative things three times more than positive things due to our needing to survive way, way before Starbucks and cell phones. While saber-tooth tigers are no longer a threat, our brains haven’t much changed their weighting system.

Point #2: We’ve gotten to a place of ‘happy stimulus overload.’ As I write this, I’m sitting on a plane flying at 35,000 feet from Tel Aviv to London (and then, hopefully, to Atlanta!) I’ve got 42 moive options, a whole host of tv stations, books, newspapers, and games at my fingertips. Meh…. It’s ok.

We fail to notice the pleasures around us because there are so many! (Personal note: As someone who travels a lot and has been incredibly lucky in life, I find myself being ‘meh’ too often about these incredible experiences. I’m a work in progress, too!)

Point #3: When you smile (with both your mouth and your eyes), you physically and chemically alter yourself, if ever so briefly, into a new state. You become happier along with being more receptive, patient, and empathetic. It also changes the sounds coming out of your mouth.

What do these three ideas have to do with joy? They tell me we have to decide to battle our natural setting (attending to the ‘bad’ a lot more than the ‘good’), treat the world around us with more gratitude, and smile. That combo will give joy a great chance to enter our lives.

Last Days of 2017

So, in these last of 2017, join me in taking a few minutes (or more) to reflect on joy. Watching our campers each summer has taught me a lot about the subject. Their joy has reminds me that sharing new experiences with friends (both new and old) brings even more joy. And, smiling will help joy walk into my life more often.

I hope these ideas will help you en-joy the last handful of days in ’17. Have a great week!