The Time of Their Life
August 10, 2018 by Don Gentle
Time sure flies in just two weeks. I know you are excited to see your boys, but it seems like they only arrived yesterday. After a fun morning of some activity wrap-up, pony painting, and general excitement, we took a brief break to get packed before the big event of the day. There are some excellent color war pictures from today. The weather set the tone just after we started. The heavy downpour created an almost medieval scene. It is amazing how excited the boys can get for this event. I sure enjoyed watching it happen around me. We washed up (mostly), and headed back to the dining hall for our end of summer banquet. The spirits were high, the voices were loud, and the music was wonderful.
During these last two weeks, we have laughed and even cried a little. We have had fun and been frustrated. We have played hard and even had a moment of pause from time to time when things didn’t pan out as planned. We have been so dirty our own mothers would turn us away. We made new friends that we will not see again for 50 weeks. When we meet them again, for reasons mom will never understand, it might take us maybe three minutes and it will feel like we have been together the whole time. It has been one heck of a ride!
I truly believe that summer camp at High Rocks is more than just a fun place to be for a few weeks. It’s life skills that are offered in a fun and meaningful way, in a community that is accepting of everyone. Your son may not have a clean shirt in his trunk, or even a pair of socks that still match. He does have more confidence, more skills, and a heap of stories to tell. I can’t wait for you to hear them.
Don’t forget to check my notes from yesterday about closing day. We will get things started around 9:45 ish am as soon as the boys get out of the assembly. A few tips for the ride home tomorrow and next week:
- Be sure to continue the conversation about Camp High Rocks and what his highlights were. The stories are great, but sometimes boys need a little help to get the conversation started. All of the two-week parents should use their parent letter as an outline for the conversation.
- Talk about next summer. If your son wants to return to High Rocks next summer (and we hope so), go ahead and decide which session he will attend. Enrollment begins on Sunday, August 12th at 5 pm. You have a few weeks as returning campers, but after that, you may have a harder time getting a spot with the first year applications coming in.
- At some point next week, sit down with your son and go through the pictures. He hasn’t seen them yet. This will definitely get him talking about camp and it is always fun to hear about what he was doing when a certain picture was taken.
- Don’t forget about the parent survey. We will send out a link on Monday.
Thank you for your trust. Thank you for checking in every night and believing in our mission. You sure do have incredible boys and we truly enjoy having them be part of the High Rocks community.
Until next year,
Don and Zoob