“There are just four colors, ten digits, seven notes and 26 letters, and it’s what you do with them and how you put them together that is the most important thing.”
My final Word of the summer before I head south to Chicago and then east to England for the winter. The dust has well and truly settled on the summer of ’23, so let’s talk about it and see what we can learn. We have learnt one valuable lesson this summer, and that is that we can be beaten by our rival over in Minocqua. We’ve had it good in that competition for a while now, but it was not to be this year, despite a valiant fightback on day two. No-one can win forever (although the White team are making a good fist of that with their ninth in a row in Green and White), so it was good to see where we are falling short in our athletic endeavours. It wasn’t for the want of trying, though. The boys – our boys, your boys – gave it a great go, so now they know what it is like to really expend some effort and win many battles, but still lose the ‘war’. But there’s always next year. We go again.
We have learnt that a full camp is a great place to be. With a record number of campers here in the second session, we had to be creative in fitting everyone into the Mess Hall at times. What a great ‘problem’ to have. Every cabin was in use and every age group had more boys than ever. Could we take more? We’d love to. The more the merrier. The noise in Wasserman Hall and the spirit in the Mess Hall was what we love to see and hear. And with campers coming from all over the world, we are truly an international camp for everyone. Cosmopolitan; diverse; inclusive!
We have learnt that the weather doesn’t stop us doing very much. With the new building – officially the GreenHouse now – we can go inside whenever we need to, although to be fair we didn’t really need to this year. The sun has shone, and it has barely rained. Indeed, as I sit here and write this this evening it is a little over 80 degrees and humid. The river, down which we canoe on our canoe trips in June, is at a record low. Hard to imagine then that the whole place could be under a blanket of snow in just eight weeks. Ah the vagaries of Mother Nature.
Collectively, I’d like to think that we have learnt that camp can be a lot of fun when you join in and let yourself go. I understand that that is not always easy for everyone, but with a little help and encouragement it soon becomes very difficult to stand on the sidelines and just watch. Camp isn’t really camp if all you’re going to do is stand and watch. But once you have learnt to let go and ‘what the heck’, then camp is a place where you can grow and learn and just be you. We have plenty of boys here now who have learnt that lesson and who are coming back for their second, third, fourth and fifth summers (and more). Even I’m still learning and growing, and this was my 32nd summer!
Perhaps the most important lesson we have learnt is that we owe you, the parents, one HUGE thank you for sending your boys to Menominee this summer. You could have held onto them; you could have sent them elsewhere; you could have sent them to summer school, but no, you chose to send them here, and for that we are truly grateful. Camp could not happen, camp could not be without your boys. They ARE camp: we just manage them. And what a joy they are to work with. We feel lucky indeed that we have the best of the best. And if they all come back next summer, then we will be in great shape.
It’s been a great summer, where we have learnt a lot, and where we will continue learning. Learning is fun, and fun is good. I will finish this Word by wishing you all well for the winter ahead, and no matter where you are in the world it is now time to safely rest, now that we know all is well.
Goodnight everybody.
As ever….WOODY!
