Closing Camp with Gratitude

And that’s a wrap!  

With one final Friendship Campfire, our summer 2024 season is drawing to a close.  It’s natural here at the end to think back and reflect on everything exciting that’s happened at Gwynn Valley this summer.  We’ve had a summer filled with beautiful music, mesmerizing fireflies, wacky Tajar Balls, inspiring International Days, bountiful harvests, and even our fair share of conquered challenges along the way.

Perhaps it’s a trick of the mind (I’m sure someone more well-versed in psychology could explain it), but everything seems to slow down right at the end of a thing.  I find myself realizing that many of the things that I’m doing won’t be done again for almost a full year.  The last pizza and brownies, the last time Debbie will play “Sheep May Safely Graze,” the last time we’ll hear the joyous screams of campers on the Waterfront.  

This part of the summer always used to make me sad.  Concluding the summer meant saying goodbye for now, oftentimes to folks who lived the world over.  In recent years though I find myself overwhelmed with a different emotion as I cue in on all the things I love about camp.  Especially the things that I’m doing for the ultimate time.  Welling up as I walked around camp today was a feeling of profound gratitude.  I love the way that being at the end of an experience makes me so very appreciative of all the many facets of that experience.  So it’s here at the close that all I can think of is to give thanks.  

To give thanks to all the childish wonder that occupies this space.  To all the critters that root around in the dirt.  To all the waters that flow around camp: Mill Race, Carson’s Creek, and Connestee Falls.  To our health and our incredible bodies that do so much for us.  To all the parents and guardians that trust us with their most precious people.  To the village that it takes to sometimes coral them!  To all the veggies from the Farm that nourish us.  To the incredible hands that harvest them.  To the incredible hands that cook them.  

 

We give thanks to have such a magical place to call Home…even if it’s only for a short time each summer.  We hope to share it all again with you soon.