When was the last time you did something you do all the time – ride in a car, open a refrigerator, facetime with a friend – and go ‘HOLY COW! This is incredible!’

If you are like me, it’s probably not often or, more likely – it’s never.

So, why do I bring this up? Well… I’m typing this not long after a take-off from Newark on a flight home to Georgia. I don’t know if the pilot wanted to show off or we had incoming traffic or what but she moved us around a bunch and… it was so much fun! (My seatmate was less enthused. She’s ok now – I’m sure her nails will grow back.)

Looking out the window, I saw the NYC skyline, Lady Liberty, the bay, the low clouds all while swooping – literally – like one of those little starlings that dart around. And then it hit me – I’m flying. I’m literally flying.

Ok… ok – I get it. I can feel you thinking, “Yeah, Cole. That’s what happens when you get on a plane. You fly.” Yep – it’s palpable. I get it.

Let me tell you why I’m thinking about this a lot lately. (And, it’s not just because camp starts in seven weeks.)

Ice Age

Here is an important thing to remember: you, me and everyone else on this beautiful blue and green orb are descendants of the humans who survived the last Ice Age.

While the movies made the term popular, the actual event was… well, let’s just say it was ‘challenging.’ How much so?

It is thought that very, very few humans made it through that experience. To provide some perspective, it’s thought the people in Europe would fill just one SEC football stadium. It was a rough time for us… and we made it through!

And now, just 11,000 years later, we are flying and flushing toilets and exploring space and going to camp and having full meals delivered to our door and talking with grandparents across the country and….Phew. We are the descendants of some pretty tough people.

History and Gratitude

The more I read and listen to history, the more grateful I feel for our current times.

Are there things to improve upon right now? HECK YEAH. But we aren’t (literally) hunting our dinner. We aren’t talking about how much closer that 100’ tall glacier is getting to our cave/home. Saber-tooth tigers aren’t roaming the land looking for these not-very-hairy-no-claws-no-sharp-teeth things (read: us) to snack upon.

I’ve just finished listening to a biography on Napolean. Malaria killed enormous parts of his armies. The communication lags led to enormous advantages and disadvantages. There were actual serfs and lords and women couldn’t vote or be educated.

That was not that long ago – a mere 200 years. In context of the age of the earth, it’s not even a whisper of an eye movement, a thought.

Wow in the Every Day

Campers. Staff members. Anyone who is reading this…. Camp is a:

Complete. And. Total. GIFT.

When we read just a little bit of history and think about going to camp… well, it’s eye-opening. To take a few weeks and connect and play and learn in all the right ways? We aren’t working or trying survive. We are living.

Should we feel bad that we get to enjoy this gift? HECK NO. This is a gift for which we should be immeasurably grateful. It should make us better humans. We should use this gift to make friends from (literally) around the world, to expand our awareness and empathy, to deepen our resolve to be grateful, to choose how we respond, to build our courage in order to make the little spot on this world in which we live BETTER when we go back to our other home.

So, as I fly over the mountains the last Ice Age created, I leave you with this: come to camp prepared to make it awesome. We are going to zig and zag, do things we don’t normally get to enjoy… and remain aware of the gift that we get to enjoy. We get to do all this… together.

So good. Can’t wait. See you soon.