I didn't grow up in a camp-going family. The
economics of it were just not something that worked for us -- in other
words, it cost a lot. Once or twice I went to church camp, which if
you're Southern Baptist is like a whole week of Vacation Bible School plus the added "enhancement" of 4-H style
dormitory lodging.
When our kids were very little, they went to day camp, mostly with
sports themes or dance themes or chess themes or [fill in the blank] theme
of their hobby or interest du jour.
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| At sport camp at DUMC |
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| I think the backdrop is adorable. |
And they went to VBS at our church
too. Where they had snack time (goldfish
crackers served in Dixie cups) and story time (Noah and Moses and Daniel in the
Lion’s Den) and craft time (each day's artwork laid in the hallway so as not to
be forgotten). More often than not, I
was teaching the X-year -olds in some room down the hall and we finished up in
time to head home for lunch.
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A handprint fish made in VBS.
“Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will make you fishers of men.”
~Matthew 4:19 |
Finally, however, when McKenzie was 10 (practically
a senior citizen, I learned, in the summer camp world), we sent her to
sleep-away camp for 5 days. The camp was a magical place, like something
in a movie (think Parent Trap - before Lindsay Lohan lost her way), nestled in
the mountains of North Carolina.
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| See what I mean? Movie set, right? |
From the setting, to the activities, to the
counselors, it was everything you'd want and hope for, and she loved it.
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| That's her the in the green sweatshirt, second from the right. |
So much so that she went back the next year for 10 days
and finally in her third year she went again for 10 days. After that, the camp
offered only month-long sessions for teenagers, and that seemed both expensive
and lengthy, and thus ended her camp career.
Now both our kids are slightly introverted and
homebodies so it was with great reluctance that we sent our son to camp this
past weekend. As we packed, I was reminded how lengthy and unforgiving those
supply lists can be ("there's no way this kid needs 10 pairs of underwear
for 6 days of camp") but I was comforted by reflecting on our daughter's
experience and praying that his would not be all that different. By all
accounts, he's at a really great camp, with generations of attendees singing
its praises, almost always using phrases like "life-changing."
So this past Saturday
my husband took our son to camp. Actually, he drove him 3 hours to the
bus that took him the additional six and half hours to camp. So yes, it better
be good. And I find myself wondering if he's having a good time.
Does he like it? Is he making friends? Was it a mistake to
wait so late in his adolescence to thrust him into this kind of overnight
experience? And, as I so often do, as my children get older, I find
myself longing for the days of day camp and VBS.
