Happy Fall!!

Happy Fall!!

Sunday, September 25, 2005

It is hard to believe that we are already over a month out from the end of the Junior session and that fall is on its way! A lot has happened since then at camp and in other parts of the country, and I apologize for not checking in sooner through our website...first, we are happy to report that all of our Gulf Coast and New Orleans families are safe and sound, but spread out in many different states, staying with grandparents and relatives, friends and families. In the next couple of days, we will post who we have heard from and where they are. I know I join the entire Illahee family in letting all of our hurricane-affected friends know that our thoughts and prayers are with you!

We have been "awash" in applications from girls all over the country who are as excited as we are about the summer of 2006! Since the deadline for returning campers was September 15th, we will be accepting new campers this week and sending out acceptance letters to all of our Illahee girls, both new and old! It is going to be the BEST SUMMER EVER!

Gordon and James have been busy getting things ready for new tennis courts! We are already tearing up the pavement on the 3 main camp courts, will install new drainage and stone to raise them up a bit, and then pave with 3 inches of new Har-Tru surface. New fencing, and nets will really spruce up these courts. In addition, we are also removing the courts on the barn side of camp, and will build two brand new courts where the counselors have parked...which means that we also will have to build a new parking lot for them...it will be out of sight because who wants to look at cars anyway at camp? We'll have to reconfigure the drive out of camp and do some landscaping and fencing. It's going to be a BIG year for camp improvements.

In other big news, right after camp,Carol Konkle, our bookkeeper and office guru, married Jonathan Sundheimer, who helped out with landsports this year(and who is a teacher at Rosman High School locally). Lots of camp friends were in attendance. Carol and Jonathan have been busy buying furniture and settling in to their new home. Laurie and Gordon just got back from a weekend trip to Charleston with friends. Climber Sarah Ruzic stayed with their kids. Kayakers Soup Campbell and Jason Parker have been helping Gordon and James with some projects around camp, and we get to see Lauren Bennett, kitchen magician Nancy McCrory, climber Sara Harris, Betsie Stockslager, and some of our other counselor friends around town.

We are back in the "groove" with the website, so make sure to check back every Sunday night when I will try to update with news from the Heavenly World!

A Counselor Wish

A Counselor Wish

Thursday, September 01, 2005

Ed. Note: Lawton Fabacher is a nine-year Illahee girl who returned to camp this summer to be counselor to the Sparks, our oldest campers. She took time off from her job as a youth minister in New Orleans. Lawton was chosen by the staff to present the "wish" on behalf of the entire staff at closing campfire.

Some people know what they want to be at age ten. I am twenty-four and still don't have a clue. I have never known exactly what I wanted. I am terrible with decisions. Terrible. I used to joke about what I' do when my "eal life" started, but there's a problem with that—I am an adult and this is my real life. I never imagined I'd work at a church, but I've been a Youth Director for three years, and I love it. I never imagined I'd be twenty-four and still coming to camp, but here I am, and I've loved it. Life is just funny like that.

"Lawton, only you would have a job that let's you go to camp," my friends all joked. "You work with kids year round and now you want to live with them?!!?" my coworkers asked, baffled. "I just love being there," I answered with a smile, and that's all I could say. That's all I can ever seem to say.

How do you describe camp to someone who has never been before? I've tried to discern what makes this place so special over and over again in my head, but it never somehow translates as well on paper, or out loud in conversation.

Webster's dictionary defines camp as, "A place usually away from urban areas where tents or simple buildings, such as cabins, are erected for shelter or temporary residence." Yes, this definition is pretty accurate, but I'm not satisfied. We all know camp is so much more. So many changes have been made since my first summer at Illahee in 1993. There are new directors and spacious new cabins; an awesome Beanstalk and high ropes course. New activities, a new riflery range and so much more. Still, so many things remain the same: the songs at campfire, the evening programs, the Fourth of July, the Olympics and numerous other traditions that seem to flourish in this summer camp environment.

I've had the privilege of spending nine summers at Illahee. It's where I learned to make lanyards and potholders. It's where I learned to shoot a gun and shoot the breeze with people I might not have at home...where I learned such a simple lifestyle could cultivate such complex and meaningful relationships...where I met my best friend Nina and spent summers with my sister...where I came to appreciate nature and its tremendous power and beauty, and came to realize that I am a part of something much bigger than myself. What a wonderful life lesson that is.

Having said all of this, I still wouldn't have ever imagined being twenty-four, and taking an unpaid leave from my job in the "real world" to return to this place I spent my summers in, this "Heavenly World." What is it that makes this place so heavenly? Like heaven, Illahee seems to keep no records of time or score. Here we forget about the worries of everyday life and live simple, uncomplicated lives that seem to make more sense than our overscheduled ones at home. They say in heaven old spirits are constantly bumping into one another and meeting ones they've never met before. I made new friends this summer, and though my childhood camp friends are no longer here, I still see them in your smiles and laughter. I talk about them in my stories and sometimes hear about them in yours. When you leave here tomorrow, leave a part of yourself here, so your spirit will linger, too, long after you've gone. I think in heaven we will all revert back to the time in our lives when we were most happy. I have always felt that I am the best version of myself at camp, and I believe that's the case for lots of us here. It's easier to feel free and dream big in this place without so much blocking the sky...but all of this is what camp means to me. What does Illahee mean to you? What does your heaven look like?

The counselors wish so many big wishes for you tonight. We hope that you are always able to see in yourselves what we have seen in you this month. Never let yourself be so easily defined, or let what you think you should be overshadow what you might still be. May you always allow yourselves the opportunity to reinvent your lives; to color outside the lines. When your lives go in unexpected and adventurous directions, embrace them. And may God always grant you grace and courage on your journey to find your way back home, whether you be six, twelve, sixteen or even twenty-four.