Growing up, I spent a week every summer in North Myrtle Beach. It was the Jones family reunion. First cousins, second cousins, aunts, uncles, folks who I thought were family, but only learned later they were just friends who felt like family. Evenings were filled with good food, and at some point, the stereo would come out to the porch. My dad, always my day, would pull out a burned CD labeled “Beach Music Hits,” and before you know it, the whole crew would be shag dancing to hits from the Embers, The Drifters, and the Tams. One of my favorites was a song called “Be Young, Be Foolish, Be Happy.”
This song perfectly encapsulates the August session. It’s younger, it’s a bit more foolish, but oh boy is it happy! When girls have been waiting all summer long, the arrival at Illahee is extraordinary. Girls jump out of the cars, stand through their sunroofs, leap out, excited to say goodbye to their home, and to make Illahee their home for the next two weeks. Even with a bit of rain on the front end of drop-off this morning, the energy the campers brought made it an awesome start to the session.
As campers were getting settled into their cabins, I walked up to Pineview to grab an extra green shelf for a camper in another cabin. Out of nowhere, I was surprise-attacked by Mae Keever and her posse of Juniper 2 friends who hit me with the “scuba.” If you don’t know what that is, you must be a Millennial like me. I laughed and scuba-ed back. Camp is meant to be silly. This session brings that, and as evident today, they brought it right from the jump.
I always spend my opening day afternoons near the Slip and Slide. For a few hours, it feels like the happiest place in the world. A 100 ft roll of 6mm plastic, a few bottles of Dawn soap, a hose, and a hill is all it takes to make an afternoon spectacular. The history books haven’t recorded the first person to make a slip and slide, and I imagine it wasn’t on purpose, but to whoever that foolish soul was, nearly three hundred Illahee girls were certainly grateful today. Our grass, not so much…
Jasper and Brooks snuck over and joined the fun, too. Brooks just got back from a week in New York at baseball camp and was excited to spend some quality time with his little bro.
In addition to the slip and slide, campers took their swim test, had time to unpack and nest into their cabins, and played some fun games with Omega in the Rec Lodge. It was a full afternoon with lots of time for cabin bonding and connection.
Sunday supper is always a Fried Chicken feast. Paired with rolls, broccoli, rice, and salad, the campers devoured the tasty meal before enjoying ice cream for dessert.
The foolishness continued at our Sunday Campfire. Campfire is the oldest tradition at Illahee. Since 1921, Sunday evenings concluded with the entire camp gathering around a fire to sing songs, tell stories, and altogether be happy. Our counselors performed a number of silly songs, introducing themselves to the campers, and even Leadership got in on a few skits. We ended campfire as we always do with a bedtime story and milk and cookies before bed. Campers are scurrying off to their cabins for showers and their first friendship circle of the session.
Paul writes in his letter to the Church in Corinth describing his crew of apostles as “fools for Christ.” He uses this language to acknowledge that what they are doing as apostles by serving God, ignoring worldly possessions, and disregarding the typical ways of advancing in society didn’t make a whole lot of sense to the rest of the world. To many on the outside, their choices could look “foolish,” but from Paul’s perspective it was exactly those choices that made all the difference.
Similarly, the average person might look at campers and counselors getting soaked in muddy, soapy water sliding down a slip-and-slide and have some questions. Gathering deep in the woods, free from screens, with nothing but our scratchy voices, beating hearts, and a fire could seem like a strange evening. And then piling into an old wooden cabin, sleeping next to eight strangers with no A/C, that’s just plain lunacy! And yet, that’s what makes camp so special. It what makes it a place for kids to be kids, to be loved, to connect, and to grow.
Call me a fool for camp, I guess.
Cheers to two weeks of being fools.
Day is done.
Lucas