Rounding the Corner!
Sunday, February 04, 2007
Winter weather finally hit the Carolinas this week, and we all enjoyed a day off from school with our own kids on Thursday. It was still a frenetic pace to get snowmen built, sleds out and down a few runs, and snowballs thrown before the rain and warmer temperatures all but erased the evidence of our fun. Camp is always beautiful in the snow, though, and Thursday morning I got a really amazing perspective as I awoke earlier than usual to check the school's website to see about closings. I always try to intercept the alarm clocks and let Gardner and Turner sleep in when school is cancelled, but this morning, my own internal alarm clock didn't let me return to sleep.
Big fat snowflakes were falling on our sleepy camp road through the hemlocks, and I couldn't help but think of one of my favorite Robert Frost poems, "Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening."
Whose woods these are I think I know. His house is in the village, though; He will not see me stopping here To watch his woods fill up with snow. My little horse must think it's queer .To stop without a farmhouse near. Between the woods and frozen lake. The darkest evening of the year. He gives his harness bells a shake. To ask if there's some mistake. The only other sound's the sweep. Of easy wind and downy flake. The woods are lovely, dark, and deep, But I have promises to keep, And miles to go before I sleep, And miles to go before I sleep.
Laurie and I were at a Young Life banquet last night in Brevard, and a singer songwriter from Hamilton, GA named Allen Levi entertained us with rich vocal acoustics. He began his story by singing an acapella plea for us to turn off our cellphones and be with him for the evening. It was a humorous, but heartfelt attempt to get us to "be here now."
In the summertime, I post nightly updates, and many of you are familiar with my soapbox...that a primary benefit of camp in this "wired world" is unplugging for a couple of weeks and enjoying rediscovering the comfort of nights tucked in bed with friends around, sitting by the fire and singing next to a guitar, and finishing sentences in conversation without the ubiquitous ending: CUL8R (See you later in text lingo). As I get older and help our own 8th grade daughter navigate the challenges of middle school and beyond, I am thankful for this place where we can step back, take a deep breath, and bask in the love of each other's company!
There is so much going on at camp! We have been distracted in recent weeks by a relatively new lymphoma diagnosis for Laurie's mother. In and around her spine, she had to have emergency surgery, and is now at MD Anderson starting treatment. What started as a diagnosis that was rather bleak, now looks pretty positive. For those with experience, R-CHOP chemotherapy and radiation look to be the prescription. We covet your prayers...Pam is a young 64 and in very good health otherwise, so we are optimistic that the rigors of chemo and radiation will be tolerated and take care of the cure.
Brian Farlow has joined our year-round team on our capable maintenance staff! He is a graduate of UNC-Wilmington and has most recently been the number one goat guy on Gareth Tate's parents' dairy in the middle part of our state. He comes to us well-skilled, and like most around here, loves to hike, bike, climb and kayak. James, Brian and Gordon have already started to restore the floor under the old walk-in that was removed in camp's kitchen. Two bathrooms, new sinks and a wrap-around hallway will lead the way to the staff dining room, and the icemaker and mop sink and other ugly stuff will be moved into the kitchen. The new Walk-in (shiny aluminum instead of the ancient homemade affair we had) will be off of the back of the kitchen.
But, if you visited camp right now, the likely first thing you would notice is a big old bulldozer down below the barn pushing all sorts of dirt out toward the road where the the old tennis courts used to be. We are going to cock the big ring around more parallel to the camp road, and re-build the smaller rings up closer to the barn. There will be so much more room up there, and the drainage will allow for firmer footing, and drier conditions when we do get that occasional rain! I bought an entire tractor trailer load of white oak fence boards, so we have out work cut out for us! It's going to look like Lexington farm country when we finish!
I was thinking this morning as I awoke that we only have about three and a half months til camp! I can't wait! We have an amazing group of returning staff and lots of new folks who are going to make 2007 the BEST SUMMER EVER!
